Sonatine (1993)

Beat Takeshi carries the yakuza genre into the 90s while reinventing it and making it his own in this (rightly so) highly rated film. His approach is deceptively simple: strip away the usual genre excess, slow everything down, and let the violence erupt in sudden, startling bursts. The touches of humor are great, too. There were several scenes where I truly laughed out loud, the kind of deadpan, off‑kilter moments Kitano is known for, where the comedy sneaks up on you rather than announcing itself.

But it’s not all fun and games either. This is still a gangster film at its core. Fans of the genre can expect rival syndicates, gun fights, and gambling halls. Yet Kitano seems far more interested in what happens between those confrontations. The long stretches where Murakawa (played by Kitano) and several of his crew hide out at a beachside getaway break with convention in the best way. These scenes feel almost like a different film, one that is playful, quiet, and strangely serene. That contrast is exactly what gives Sonatine its staying power. The downtime becomes a kind of emotional x‑ray, revealing who these men are when the violence pauses long enough for them to breathe.

Kitano’s performance is a big part of why the film works. He plays Murakawa as a man who seems exhausted by his own life, drifting through danger with a mix of resignation and dark amusement. His stillness becomes its own form of tension. You’re always waiting for the moment he finally snaps into motion.

The score by Joe Hisaishi is a fantastic accompaniment to the shifting moods and visual elements. His music softens the film’s harder edges and deepens its melancholy, especially during the beach sequences, where the calm feels both peaceful and ominous.

So good. And more than that. Sonatine is one of those rare crime films that lingers not because of its violence, but because of its quiet moments, its eccentric humor, and its sense of fatalistic calm. It’s a yakuza movie reimagined as a meditation, and it’s all the more compelling for it.