Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Leoni Haney Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Abegail Noëlle While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Leofwine_draca One of my favourite 'Beat' Takeshi films and one of my favourite gangster films of all time: this is up there with the best of Scorsese and Coppola, a truly excellent little film which went under the radar for most people. Some people don't care for this film, feeling that it's too Western in approach, lacking in the Zen and tranquillity department, but I have to disagree. I feel like this was the pinnacle of Takeshi's career when it was made, as if his earlier movies (VIOLENT COP etc.) were all building up to this moment, a film in which everything is done just right.It's not a film to describe too much, as that would spoil the story. Really, it's a tale of the rise and fall of a criminal gang, a Scorsese movie done on a small-scale, if you will. I loved the American setting and the East meets West themes, which I found added to the story greatly. It's a very violent film, with many scenes punctuated by shocking death, but it never seems gratuitous, more expected. As both star and director, Takeshi is at the top of his game here. Never has he been more icy cold, more stony-faced – and yet Aniki has to be the most honourable and respectable gangster he's ever played. The supporting cast is great, too, especially Omar Epps, who's given a really interesting character to play. All in all, a fantastic little film and one I look forward to watching again.

oneguyrambling The director of this film is Takeshi Kitano, the star is Beat Takeshi... or vice-versa. But they are both the same guy, he acts under one name and directs under the other for some reason. I could care less what he calls himself, Brother rocks.The plot concerns a loyal Yakuza henchman named Aniki who is forced to leave Japan when his Boss is killed and he refuses to kowtow and join a rival gang. He is sent to America where he looks up his younger brother who has gone off the rails a little bit. Not joined-the-Yakuza path, but dabbling in minor drug dealing and stuff.Aniki (means Big Brother in Japanese) promptly takes over the rabble and forms his own gang of 5. Not content with running his own small time show he promptly sets about an expansion program that would leave his shareholders giddy (if they existed). Only like the dot-com boom and bust Aniki operates in a field with many competitors and precious few behavioral boundaries, so this was never going to end happily.What sets Brother apart from the usual drug wars' films is that it isn't made like one. There are long dialogue-free scenes that are allowed to roll out and develop at their own pace, only to be punctuated by sudden acts of great violence, and not the "guy leaps into air after explosion" violence, I mean "guy gets chopsticks forcefully pushed into skull" stuff, or "man picks up broken bottle and sticks it in other man's eye".Aniki himself speaks no English upon arriving in the US, so his instructions are passed down through his little brother and eventually his 2IC Kato that followed him across from Japan and shows unwavering loyalty at all times. Aniki grabs himself a girlfriend, although it is never shown if she is actually his platonic missus or a trinket (or even a pet) that he likes around, and his best friend in the gang is Denny (Omar Epps), a young thug and the unfortunate recipient of the broken bottle mentioned above. The two bond over gambling on anything and everything, despite not speaking each other's language, and it seems that Aniki wants to take Denny under his wing from almost Day 1.As the "business" expands it takes over new turf and incites anger from new enemies and rivals. Everything is run with the Yakuza code of honour and disloyalty and betrayal are both met with savage repercussions. Unfortunately if there is one thing that the Star Wars prequels showed us (aside from not knowing when to stop) it is that "there is always a bigger fish". Ultimately the gang grows too big and a mad scramble is made to flee as the tone changes.It is hard to discuss Brother without making it sound like a whiz-bang action film, it isn't that though. It has action elements sure, but maybe 4 brief scenes in the movie, a far cry from your Lethal Weapons and co... Brother is more a deliberately paced drama that tells a familiar story, but in a different way and with an unfamiliar backdrop.For some reason I found it compelling at all times, even in the slow(er) spots when it seemed to pause for no reason, and I wanted it to continue on and on. I've seen Brother maybe 5 times now, and each time I pick up the DVD cover I know how great this film is, but I press play and let the following 2 hours prove it to me again.As bat-sh*t crazy as some aspects of Japanese culture seem to Westerners these days, there is a lot to admire about the way they conduct their business at times, even in a violent crime film (and I am no Scarface / New Jack City slack-jawed admirer of all things criminal).Final Rating - 8.5 / 10. A pretty straightforward plot: Guy starts business. Business grows. Business hits trouble. But told in a very effective way.

kmevy Many people treat this film as a total disaster; as an totally abortive experiment. But in my opinion this movie set a new standard for movies, which are trying to combine the very diverse film styles from Japan and the US; a real success, with small glitches; that i have to agree with ;)But nonetheless i was stunt how well this collaboration worked out. (yeah, i know; many people won't agree with me here) Especially if you compare this film, which was again a showcase for Kitano's brilliant talent, to other attempts of Japanese filmmakers to include American culture in Japanese films. The results are often hilariously bad. They are either very racist or pretty tacky.Now in this film the American actors are shining. They are believable living personalities. And the reason lies within the special Kitano film-making-technique, which totally differs from the well known Hollywood and Japanese "Dorama" construction kit-alike filmaking. And the other very important thing is, that the American part is neither colliding with the Japanese style nor is it being manipulated by the Japanese part. I was also amazed by the special way the American cast acted. It felt sometimes way more natural than in all these cliché Hollywood productions. A simply fascinating symbiosis of those two film-styles. Kitano stated that he doesn't plan to do another film like this one; well, that's OK with me. This makes "Brother" as an experiment and as a movie more unique anyway. ;)Well this is one of many reasons, why this film has to be considered a masterpiece. So there is far more to praise: The beautiful and dramatic music by Joe Hisaishi, the very fitting/stylish costume design, the incessant stunning photography and the very censoriously storyline, which shows that building your own cartel might confront you with some bloodshed ... ;)well, that's it! (should write more reviews in the future .. It's pretty fun! ;) So if you are considering yourself a Kitano-fan: watch it and you will probably be pretty amazed ;) If you are a first-timer to Kitano .. be careful. If you don't like this one you probably won't like all the others ... except the less violent ones like Dolls or "A scene at the sea" for instance; those are also fascinating pieces of art and shouldn't be ignored!

RainDogJr I know my friends here in IMDb that this is an strange question and also is very illogic because well, Kitano is much older than Quentin in films question but also in age and also Quentin release a Kitano film in his Rolling Thunder Collection: Sonatine (1993) ...but this question is the tag line of the BROTHER DVD here in Mexico City, the DVD says: Brother (El Capo): A film by Takeshi Kitano "The new Tarantino" This is for laugh to all the KItano fans........but for me was really helpful because i never knew about Takeshi KItano (sorry for that) and of course i knew about Quentin and when i saw this film in DVD with this tag line, well i buy it very fast and saw it the same afternoon.Later i start to investigate about who is Kitano, and i found this surprise: Takeshi Kitano is like a influence for Tarantino and is one of the most important films maker of Japan.And well right now i'm trying to buy all the films of Takeshi Kitano but is a little hard here in Mexico City because not many people Knows about Takeshi Kitano.ABOUT THE FILM BROTHER: The reason why i started to investigate about Kitano was that i really enjoy and love this excellent film.This is not the common film about gangsters that we already know........this is a very original and great history about a gangster of Japan who need to move to the US for questions of his work.There in US, this gangster (Takeshi Kitano) show to the little gang of his young brother that what they need to grow up in the matter of business is a leader like him.Very soon this gang start to take the control of LA and finally they need to fight against the most powerful gang in LA: The Italian mafia.The story is,for a lot of people and critics, very common but for me KItano make this story very original because he put elements that never were released in another film about gangsters.This elements are of course, the character that plays himself because he can't talk English but still can control the gang of his brother. Other elements are the excellent scenes like the one were he cut the face of a black guy that latter is in his gang and well the performances (all) are excellent and also the direction is great.BROTHER (2000) is an excellent film and well: Takeshi Kitano is not the new Tarantino...OK???