I found "Chi to hone" very boring and repetitive. No back story I could understand. No way to understand the actions of Kitano, or most of the other members of his family.
I thought I was seeing a weird Asian crossing between "Once Upon a Time in America" and "Brutti sporchi e cattivi" (Ettore Scola's "Ugly Dirty and Bad"), without the powerful story those film have, and didn't enjoyed it.
Cinematography is below average, acting is very good, but overall the movie makes no sense. It may be because I don't understand much of Japan/Korea history, but I generally appreciate Japanese movies (from Kitano's to Kurosawa).
It is clear that a lot of time was spend in the sets and the reconstruction of the 40's, 50's and 60's in the movie, and a lot of details looks real. But all seems very pointless.
There are some sexual scenes that are very hard to see, mostly because they are quite repetitive and don't make the story move.
The bottom line: you probably have better to do with your time.
I thought I was seeing a weird Asian crossing between "Once Upon a Time in America" and "Brutti sporchi e cattivi" (Ettore Scola's "Ugly Dirty and Bad"), without the powerful story those film have, and didn't enjoyed it.
Cinematography is below average, acting is very good, but overall the movie makes no sense. It may be because I don't understand much of Japan/Korea history, but I generally appreciate Japanese movies (from Kitano's to Kurosawa).
It is clear that a lot of time was spend in the sets and the reconstruction of the 40's, 50's and 60's in the movie, and a lot of details looks real. But all seems very pointless.
There are some sexual scenes that are very hard to see, mostly because they are quite repetitive and don't make the story move.
The bottom line: you probably have better to do with your time.