Brother (2000)

46% of critics liked it
(70 reviews)
78% of users liked it
(8,380 ratings)

Internationally acclaimed director and Japanese media phenomenon Takeshi Kitano follows up his well-regarded Kikujiro with this straight-ahead gangster saga with a cross-cultural twist. The film focuses on Yamamoto (Kitano), a yakuza forced out of the country when a gang war all but wipes out his… More Internationally acclaimed director and Japanese media phenomenon Takeshi Kitano follows up his well-regarded Kikujiro with this straight-ahead gangster saga with a cross-cultural twist. The film focuses on Yamamoto (Kitano), a yakuza forced out of the country when a gang war all but wipes out his clan. Armed with a fake credit card, a forged passport, and a bag of money, he journeys to the strange and foreign land of Los Angeles to join his half-brother Ken (Claude Maki), who works as a low-rent street tough alongside fast-talking hustler Denny (Omar Epps). With brutal efficiency, the poker-faced Yamamoto starts staking out turf and organizing Ken's mob into one of the most powerful criminal syndicates in the city. As his gang grows in number and power, he is joined by Kato (Kitano regular Susumu Terajima), his former lieutenant from Japan, who entreats Little Tokyo's pathological crime boss Shirase (Masaya Kato) to join the group. Yamamoto seems unstoppable until his gang runs afoul of the Mafia. Soon, all that he built quickly and bloodily starts to unravel as every member in his gang is marked for death. This film was screened at the 2000 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 52 min.
Directed By: Takeshi Kitano
Written By: Takeshi Kitano
Genres: Drama, Action & Adventure, Art House & International, Mystery & Suspense

In Theaters: Jun 1, 2001 Wide
On DVD: Jan 2, 2002
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics

Critic Reviews

Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee
Singularly unexciting for an action film, and working up enthusiasm for it is difficult.
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer
As an actor and writer-director, Mr. Kitano projects an amused irony that makes his films worth seeing.
Desson Thomson, Washington Post
Just how many acts of self-inflicted finger amputations do I really want to see?
Bob Graham, San Francisco Chronicle
Kitano presents all this mayhem in crisp and cool camera work that distances it and keeps it from becoming oppressive.
Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle
Intriguing though uneven.
Susan Stark, Detroit News
A provocative variation on moviedom's worn cross-cultural themes.
Eric Lurio, Greenwich Village Gazette
Takashi has been considered a master auteur. Perhaps, but there's no art here, just violence.
Tom Grealis, RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)
If the yardstick for mob flicks is 'Goodfellas' (and it should be), then 'Brother' doesn't stand a chance. On its own, however, it is a stylish, colourful film.
Jean Lowerison, San Diego Metropolitan
Oh, brother.
David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
There's no flow to this movie -- it just plods along from one disconnected sequence to another.
Sean Burns, Philadelphia Weekly
Always audacious and never less than entertaining, even when it's coming apart at the seams.
Michael W. Phillips, Jr., Goatdog's Movies
It's a little hard to take, a little too nihilistic.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
It fails to work because it falls into the conventional exploitive genre of Hollywood action films instead of retaining the quirky director's unusual artistic sensibilities.

Read all 13 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Anthony L

Something was lost slightly when Kitano decided to come over to the west and make an English speaking film. The supporting cast were such in awe of him and it showed on film and made for uncomfortable viewing. That said, this film contains one of the most shocking and unexpected… More
Something was lost slightly when Kitano decided to come over to the west and make an English speaking film. The supporting cast were such in awe of him and it showed on film and made for uncomfortable viewing. That said, this film contains one of the most shocking and unexpected twists that I?ve seen for a long time. It?s still Kitano, it's still good.
El Hombre I

If you don't know Beat Takeshi let me explain; He's a different type of badass. He doesn't have great karate skills or runs around hanging from helicopters and jumping away from explosions in slow motion and what not. Even without a language barrier, he doesn't say… More
If you don't know Beat Takeshi let me explain; He's a different type of badass. He doesn't have great karate skills or runs around hanging from helicopters and jumping away from explosions in slow motion and what not. Even without a language barrier, he doesn't say much, so he's not really a tough talker. Doesn't even bother trying to look tough. He mostly sits there in sunglasses with an indecipherable look on his face, as if smiling at something...but you're not sure what. When he removes his sunglasses, his eyes are a total blank, so they don't really help at all. He's somewhat a friendly, joking kind of guy, like a friendly old neighbor, but he's also really good at punching you in the kidney with a knife, or hiding guns in places so he can pop them out and shoot a room full of people before they can think what to do. While some people might argue that this film is too commercial and lacks the artistic value of other films I'd later see from the director, what has not changed is Kitano's love in exploring the complexity of human choice under extreme condition. The film has a charm all its' own and would be an ideal place to start if curious about the world of Takeshi Kitano as he points towards a new direction for the yakuza genre. <a href="http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/goji9000/?action=view&current=takeshi_kitano.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/goji9000/takeshi_kitano.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Pierluigi P

Takeshi Kitano creates a peculiar, paused, funny, highly violent but somewhat touching clash between the eastern and western underworld.
Tsubaki S

A compendium of ideas that Kitano has previously explored, and with far better results, in Sonatine, Violent Cop and Hana Bi. Not a bad effort per se, it just feels like a long deja vu, and eventually becomes just a shooting gallery for Kitano. Don't get me wrong, watching Kitano… More
A compendium of ideas that Kitano has previously explored, and with far better results, in Sonatine, Violent Cop and Hana Bi. Not a bad effort per se, it just feels like a long deja vu, and eventually becomes just a shooting gallery for Kitano. Don't get me wrong, watching Kitano killing gangster after gangster can be fun, but it can also get repetitive after a while.
Stephen M

As ever, the first order of business for Takeshi Kitano, director, is ensuring that Takeshi Kitano, actor, looks cool at all times. In this particular vanity-project he plays a Yakuza exiled to the United States, who rises through the underworld ranks to become a powerful mob boss --… More
As ever, the first order of business for Takeshi Kitano, director, is ensuring that Takeshi Kitano, actor, looks cool at all times. In this particular vanity-project he plays a Yakuza exiled to the United States, who rises through the underworld ranks to become a powerful mob boss -- much like Pacino's Tony Montana in "Scarface" -- before an ill-advised war with the Mafia brings his empire crashing down. Also like "Scarface", the nature of Kitano's business once he's hit the big-time is very superficially sketched, jettisoned in favour of painfully unfunny culture-clash comedy, excruciating sentimentality and a lot of honourable Yakuza self-mutilation. The absence of plot leaves one plenty of time to reflect whether Kitano's anti-heroes would be quite so laconic if he were a better actor. "Brother" is indifferently acted, as unattractively photographed as a TV movie, and it has a ghastly, maudlin jazz soundtrack. Of the half-dozen Kitano movies I've seen, this is the worst.
xGary X

When an uncompromising Yakuza leaves Japan to prevent the ignition of a gang war, he joins his brother, a small time drug dealer in America and shocks both his friends and enemies with his ruthless brutality. But when their fledgling organization reaches the attention of the mafia,… More
When an uncompromising Yakuza leaves Japan to prevent the ignition of a gang war, he joins his brother, a small time drug dealer in America and shocks both his friends and enemies with his ruthless brutality. But when their fledgling organization reaches the attention of the mafia, the cycle of violence soon spirals out of control. Kiteshi Kitano's culture clash gangster movie has the unlikely friendship between his stone-faced and laconic Yakuza and wisecracking petty hustler Omar Epps at it's core, punctuated by explosive bursts of visceral action. It contains his trademark humour, "gangsters at play" and simple yet beautiful direction that relies on stoic imagery and composition rather than the endless dolly shots and pointless colour filters that seem to plague modern cinema. My one complaint is that some of the characters were under-used, and had had their brains splattered all over the wall before I'd even remembered their names. Not his best, but the familiar US settings and english dialogue makes this the perfect entry point for anyone unfamiliar with Takeshi's work.
Khris N

Superb gangster movie! A grey film of sorts where there is no spectrum of colors, only shades of grey - metaphorically speaking. the term i would use is faux zen: style without substance. and funnily, it works.
Wu C

My favorite so far by Kitano. This yakuza flick has a perfect blend of drama, humour & violence. So many great sequences. Don't miss this!