20^th June Sonatine
Japan 1993

Director: Kitano Takeshi
94 minutes, 16mm Japanese/English Subtitles
Sonatine is cool, stylish, intelligent, funny and quite unlike anything you've seen in the last couple of years. It starts off as the familiar hard-boiled urban-thriller with a lot of shoot and splatter energy then veers into a different direction altogether. Unlike an American gangster movie, whose plot and pace build to an explosive finale, this has periods of almost meditative serenity and humour. Basically it follows the story of a influential hitman, who pushed by his boss to get involved in Okinawa gang wars, comes to realize he wants out: he's too rich and tired for this game. He tries to weather the storm of violence at a beachfront retreat.
The best thing about Sonatine is its freshness, its ability to surprise!