I Heart T-Points: HANA-BI

HANA-BI is the best Japanese movie ever made.  Need proof?  In 1997, it won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, one of the highest honors in the film industry.  Need more?  In 2005, it changed my life (which is also a pretty big deal).

Have you ever noticed that students quote the same joke (Toose!) over and over for months but eventually the joke (Ichi, ni, SAN!) mysteriously disappears? This occurs because Japanese comedians frequently fade into obscurity as quickly as they rose to popularity.  The director and star of HANA-BI, however, is a rare exception in the unforgiving Japanese entertainment industry.  He is legendary manzai comedian Beat Takeshi/Kitano Takeshi, a man worth becoming familiar with while living in Japan.  His decades-long career has spanned nearly every artistic medium available, surviving through the occasional scandal and even a devastating motorcycle crash in 1994.  HANA-BI is his greatest work of art.

HANA-BI is a story in two acts.  The first half of the film explains why Detective Nishi (played by Kitano) is no longer a police officer nor mentally stable.  In a single day, his best friend and partner is shot and paralyzed, he is informed that his wife will not recover from her leukemia and, worst of all, he blames these problems on himself.  Did I mention that before this he also lost a young daughter?  And that yakuza are constantly hounding him about debts?  “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”  However, you can only drink so much lemonade before it starts making you sick.  And Nishi can only (brutally) beat up so many yakuza debt-collectors before it catches up to him.

The second act of HANA-BI focuses on the relationship between Nishi and his wife.  Following advice from her doctor, Nishi takes his wife on vacation (with money he acquires by robbing a bank) so that she may enjoy what remaining time she has left.  The trip serves as the last stand for their life together, eventually leading to the best ending I have ever seen in a movie.  I am not exaggerating: the final moments of HANA-BI are so awesome that your heart might explode (that was an exaggeration).

Thanks to HANA-BI, the number one reason I love Japanese films is that I love the soundtracks.  There is an indescribable “sound” that is unique to Japanese music, and not because it comes from a traditional instrument like the shamisen.  No, the sound is a modern one; it is in the music that resonates on the streets in my imagination’s version of Akihabara and in many SEGA games like Sonic the Hedgehog and Phantasy Star Online. This distinct sound gives the music a Japanese “feel” that never fails to draw a strong emotional response from me, whether it is in a game, a film or even just songs à la carte.

Composer Joe Hisaishi (who has also scored many Miyazaki Hayao films) created a soundtrack for HANA-BI that has that same powerful effect.  HANA-BI is a serious drama, but there is ample violence in the film and there are moments that are very funny as well.  The actors rarely speak and never wear their hearts on their sleeves; a recurring shot in HANA-BI is of Nishi staring directly at the camera without even the slightest hint of emotion in his face.  Therefore, the action and the comedy threaten to steal the show.  However, the focus never shifts away from the characters’ emotional experience thanks to Hisaishi, whose score makes their feelings something tangible. The long, disconcerting shots of Nishi provide an opportunity to understand the character in a way his own words could never accurately express, while the hauntingly beautiful music will make the heavy weight on his heart feel as if it were on your own. Above all, the brilliant soundtrack is what brings me back to HANA-BI again and again.

HANA-BI is the best Japanese movie ever made and this review hardly does it justice.  Sure, it was not directed by Ozu or Kurosawa nor can it be found on any “all-time greatest films” lists.  As far as I am concerned, however, HANA-BI is the most important Japanese film I have ever seen.  There is something special in the violence, the humor, the drama, and the soundtrack that ignited my passion for Japan and its culture; that passion eventually brought me here.  Even if HANA-BI does not end up changing your life, it is a film that cannot be missed.

Thanks for watching!