Brother (2000) Full Movie English Sub

[Deanna]

YamamotoTakeshi Kitano) is a brutal and experienced yakuza enforcer whose boss was killed and whose clan was defeated in a criminal war with a rival family. Surviving clan members have few options: either to join the winners, reconciling with shame and distrust, or to die by committing seppuku. Yamamoto, however, decides to escape to Los Angeles along with his associate Kato (Susumu Terajima). There he finds his estranged half-brother Ken (Claude Maki), who runs a small-time drug business together with his local African-American friends. At the first meeting, Yamamoto badly hurts one of them, Denny (Omar Epps), for an attempt to scam him. Later, Denny becomes one of the Yamamoto's closest friends and associates.

Used to living in a clan and according to its laws, Yamamoto creates a hapless gang out of Ken's buddies. The new gang quickly and brutally attacks Mexican drug bosses and takes control of their territory in LA. They also form an alliance with Shirase (Masaya Kato), a criminal leader of Little Tokyo district, making their group even stronger. As time passes, Yamamoto and his new gang emerge as a formidable force, gradually expanding their turf to such an extent that they confront the powerful Italian Mafia. Now everybody respectfully addresses Yamamoto as Aniki (兄貴, elder brother). But soon Aniki suddenly loses any interest in their now successful but dangerous business, spending his time with a girlfriend or just sitting silently thinking about something. However, the Mafia ruthlessly strikes back, and soon Yamamoto and his gang are driven into a disastrous situation of no return as they are hunted down one by one.

Impressed with Europeans' interest in yakuza, Kitano wrote what he described as an old-fashioned yakuza film. To greater contrast the character against more familiar elements, he set it in a foreign country, choosing Los Angeles as a place-holder. When producer Jeremy Thomas asked Kitano if he was interested in foreign productions, Kitano told him about the script. Thomas promised him complete creative control, which Kitano said he got. Commenting on the differing styles of filmmaking, Kitano said that American productions are more focused on the business side and are less sentimental. Kitano cited their strong pride in their professionalism as a positive aspect.[8]

At the time of its release, Brother was hyped as Kitano's vehicle for breaking into the United States film market. The film has a 47% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 74 reviews, and an average rating of 5.2/10. The website's critical consensus states: "There is too much hollow bloodshed in Brother, and the characters are stereotypically flat".[10] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 47 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[11]

Roger Ebert, who has praised all of Kitano's films he has seen, complimented Kitano in his review but ultimately rated the film two out of four stars, writing that "Brother is a typical Kitano film in many ways, but not one of his best ones."[12] Marc Savlov of the Austin Chronicle gave the film two and half stars out of five, stating, "Kitano's beat is an altogether grimmer affair, laden with dark irony and unexpurgated scenes of violence. It's rougher stuff than most would expect, though not unrewarding in its own horrific way."[13] A reviewer of TimeOut commented, "A film of almost diagrammatic clarity, in which questions of loyalty, honour and, yes, brotherhood are mere pieces on the chessboard."[14]

Kitano stated in an interview that he was not fully satisfied with the final result of Brother and that he regretted his "Hollywood" adventure, which was supposed to bring him a broader audience with a higher exposure. Kitano said he had no intention of shooting outside Japan again.[This quote needs a citation]

The actor Beat Takeshi is a Japanese original, but if you made a list of the American stars he resembles, it would start with Clint Eastwood. The director Takeshi Kitano is also a Japanese original, but if you made a list of the Western filmmakers he resembles, it would reach from Sergio Leone to Jim Jarmusch, with Eastwood somewhere in the middle. But there is no one in Hollywood quite like the two of them put together, and of course they are the same man, using two names to separate his many jobs on the set.

Kitano, for so we will call him, is revered in Japan as an auteur of hard-boiled, minimalist action. His films consist of periods of quiet in which you can feel violence coiling out of sight, and then sudden explosions of mayhem. He is a weathered, deadpan, wary-looking man, a yakuza Jack Webb. He usually wears dark glasses, rarely has much to say and occasionally barks out an amazed little laugh at what life has to offer him. When part of his face was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident, it became part of his lore that you couldn't tell which side, because he never moved his facial muscles anyway.

"Brother" is Kitano's deliberate attempt to enter the American market, in a movie set in Los Angeles and essentially in English, although Kitano, unlike Jackie Chan, doesn't pretend fluency. Many of the movie's key situations depend on who speaks English or Japanese, and why--although one enemy dies right after Kitano tells him, in perfect English, "I understand `dirty Jap'." As the movie opens, Yamamoto, Kitano's character, has had to leave Japan suddenly after a gang war has gone against him. In Los Angeles, he teams up with a half-brother (Claude Maki), his African-American partner Denny (Omar Epps) and others in a drug ring. Yamamoto is the catalyst in many situations, simplifying them with the sudden elimination of those he disagrees with. Soon the gang is riding high and has its own headquarters with a private basketball court (a tattooed yakuza complains when the blacks won't pass the ball to him).

Kitano is as much an existentialist as a action hero, however, and his crime movies (like "Sonatine") rarely end with victory for himself and his friends. He is more in love with doom-laden irony, with grand gestures in defeat. His final scene in "Brother" owes more to the defiant last gestures of 1930s Warner Brothers gangsters than to simple-minded modern action pictures that end after all the enemies have been eliminated.

What's fascinating about Kitano is the way he pounces. He specializes in moments of action almost too fast to see (here he resembles Eastwood as The Man with No Name--and Eastwood, of course, was ripping off Mifune in "Yojimbo"). An opponent will say the same thing, there will be a flash of action, and he'll have chopsticks stuck halfway up his nose. A pause for the realization to sink in, and then the sudden blow to push them the rest of the way in. All over in a moment.

"Brother" is a typical Kitano film in many ways, but not one of his best ones. Too many of the killing scenes have a casual, perfunctory tone: lots of gunfire, a row of enemies lies dead, the plot moves on. Finally so many people are dead that the movie looks more like a shooting gallery or a video game than a stylized crime parable.

Kitano, both Beat and Takeshi, is a name that belongs on the list of anyone who wants to be familiar with the key players in modern world cinema, but don't start with "Brother." Rent `Sonatine" or "Fireworks," and then double back.

Mark De Alessandro Keith Woulard John Alden Rick Avery Kurt Bryant Damon Caro Christopher Caso Anthony Cecere Paul Eliopoulos Kenny Endoso Mickey Giacomazzi Al Goto Steven Ho Buddy Joe Hooker Brian Imada John Koyama Will Leong Clint Lilley Frank Lloyd Johnny Martin John C. Meier Eddie Perez Simon Rhee Jimmy N. Roberts Erik Rondell Thomas Rosales Jr. Michael Runyard Koichi Sakamoto Spencer Sano Frank Torres David Wald Danny Wong Dick Ziker

Where Crocodile Dundee failed, Takeshi Kitano succeeds as the Japanese director is exiled from Japan and takes his mayhem to Los Angeles, joining with his half-brother, a petty drug dealer, two dumb friends and Eric Foreman.

Very minimilistic approach to the Yakuza or Mafia genre yet so intriguing that it keeps you entertained throughout without even showing too much action scenes yet occasional brust of headshots.

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It's not like the american films nor like the japanese which touch the genre, yet it still manages to incorporate the good aspects from both and give a good entertainer if you are not in for something too fancy.

The strongest brotherhood out of all the yakuza films by Kitano. A yakuza relocating to the west means more problems and violence, Kitano here borrows a couple familiar territories from his earlier films, a violent man learning until the inevitable happens, sudden violence, and people mostly deadpanning through the world. Kitano does make the film feel too americanized at times, with surprising bits of gore, and heavy bloodsplatter; There's also bits of awkward dialogue in English, but they greatly add to the deadpan charm of the film. Omar Epps is the MVP here; his on-screen chemistry with Kitano here makes for really enjoyable scenes when they're together, the last scene with him is just god-tier, with satisfying delivery of lines and a perfect bringing of the film to a bittersweet end of a cycle of ruthlessness and gangster-dom.

This one almost lost me because I find the silent badass archetype a little played out, but then it takes a turn at the 30 minute mark into my favorite sub genre of mob movie where they just revel in their success for an hour.

This was, honestly really boring to me. I just have a hard time caring about a bunch of people who make their way peddling death and drugs. And like Jason Vorheese deals in death, but not like there is really a Sport gear wearing zombie who is REALLY REALLY into the whole promise ring thing. But there are really people pushing poison on the streets, so yea.

Yamamoto is a yakuza whose boss has been killed by an adversary clan. Fearing for his life, he decides to leave Japan for the US in order to find his little brother who has been part of a small drug-dealing gang. Yamamoto decides to help him, and thus, a new yakuza clan begins to take form in Los Angeles.

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