Fireworks (Hana-bi)

Fireworks (Hana-bi) (1997)

  • 95% of critics liked it
    (19 reviews)

  • 91% of users liked it
    (10,700 ratings)

Actor and auteur Takeshi Kitano (who in Japan also uses the stage name "Beat" Takeshi, primarily for his work as a television comedian) wrote, directed, edited, and starred in this unusual crime drama. Nishi (Takeshi Kitano) is a policeman whose emotions seem to run only on two extreme… More

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R,
Directed By
Genres
Drama, Romance, Art House & International
In Theaters
Sep 3, 1997 Wide

Critic Reviews

  • Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

    Takeshi Kitano, who made it, must be very serene or very angry; only extreme states allow such a narrow focus.

  • Rob Nelson, City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul

    Compared to [Takeshi] Kitano, Bruce Willis is a wimp, Harrison Ford is a creep, and Mel Gibson is a joke.

  • Jaime N. Christley, Slant Magazine

    Kitano uses his own face as a blank slate with which to sketch a complicated human being.

  • Carlo Cavagna, AboutFilm.com

    Kitano makes static, understated movies about existences wasted, and rediscovering the joy of being, for a brief time, alive.... Violence comes in sudden bursts, as a shocking interruption.

  • Michael W. Phillips, Jr., Goatdog's Movies

    A really good example of character development by actions, without the benefit of dialog or mannerisms.

Read all 6 critic reviews

See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Emil K


    Beautiful, violent and extremely heartbreaking story about a policeman and his terminally ill wife. Hana-Bi is not a perfect film. not even a close. But it does have one of a kind beauty in it. It has rare moments that mix so many different emotions together. You can never tell where… More

  • xGary X


    An ex cop tries to spend time with his dying wife during her final days, but a Yakuza loan shark refuses to leave him in peace. A typically understated marriage of violence and poetry from Beat Takeshi, Hana-Bi examines loss and mortality in a deeply personal way. It shares many of… More

  • Cameron S


    Touching, absurd and beautiful. Hana-bi is a lot like 'Sonatine' another one of Kitano's films as it portrays a nihilistic main character, a man of few words, dealing with his wife dying and his co-worker wanting to commit suicide. Hana-bi moves at a slow pace and is… More

  • Bruce B


    This movie is from a list of movies played at the 1997 Toronto International Movie Festival.Its written by Takeshi Kitano and is 103 Minutes long. Its about a police officer in Asia, whose wife is dying of Leukemia and one of his fellow partners gets shot on the job, along with other… More

  • Anthony L


    Hana-bi is Kitano's most personal work to date. It seems like all his feelings, that he'd bottled up for so long, were suddenly triggered and then released after his near death motorcycle accident. In his autobiography it says that after he committed suicide (Beat, his… More

Read all 12 featured audience ratings

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