SUMMARY
Goda's girlfriend has just committed suicide.
While the police question him, Goda learns that she killed
herself using a .38 Police Special. Confused and angry at her
death, he begins to investigate how she obtained the gun in the
first place. Soon, his search becomes an obsession, as each attempt
to get a real gun meets in failure.
When fate drops the object of his desire right in his lap, he
can't wait to use it. He heads out to find the street
punks who mugged him, and give them some righteous vengeance.
Now, Goda has his gun, but has he found the answers he is looking
for?
WIDESCREEN
REVIEW
STORY: Bullet Ballet is a captivating tale of loss
and anger. Shinya Tsukamoto's script is an intense mix of
social commentary, violence, and deep introspection. He has a
story to tell, and he makes damn sure you are watching.
ACTING: It's amazing
to watch Shinya Tsukamoto go from a man on the top of his game, to a
seething mess of rage and despair. He uses his entire body to
communicate how much pain and suffering his character is experiencing.
Kirina Mano plays Chisato with a subtlety that most people would
mistake for wooden acting. On the surface, she comes off as a
tough chick, with little to no emotions. If you watch closely
at her body language, and her sad, dull eyes, you can see that her Chisato
isn't very tough at all.
The rest of the cast is equally impressive. From Murase
Takahiro pretending to be tough portrayal of Goto, to the sleazy
drug fiend Idei, played by Nakamura Tatsuya, all play their parts
much like dancers in a ballet. Separately, they are
impressive. Put them together, and you have a wonder
performance.
FAN SERVICE: Well, the closest thing you get is
Kirina Mano in her panties. Other than that, there isn't any
nudity and such.
CONCLUSION
Like most people, I had heard about Shinya Tsukamoto and his
movie "Tetsuo II: The Body Hammer" but never have had the
chance to see it. Based upon the knowledge I had, I figured
that Bullet Ballet was going to be like his other films; visually
stunning, but a total mess on the narrative side.
Well, I was
wrong. With
in 5 minutes, I was completely blown away by Bullet Ballet.
What first caught
my eye was how stark the black and white was. Very
few film makers know how to effectively use black an white photography,
but Tsukamoto does. Besides the gritty, film noir feel, the
lack of color reflects the attitudes and emotions of the
characters. When we first meet the character of Goda, he is
shown in whites and gray's, reflecting his happier disposition.
As he moves closer to his home, things get darker. Once he is being interrogated
by the police, the dark clouds close in, and that is where he spends
the rest of the movie. Many of the characters live in that
dark place, only getting the bright light when doing
something they love. For Chisato, it's ransacking Goda's home
when he is not there, her one chance to be alone. For Idei, it's taking speed and dancing
with Chisato. For Goto, it's beating up people just like
him. You get the picture.
The acting was way better
than I expected. I found Tsukamoto's performance of Goda quite
amazing. Seeing him slowly transform from your average, happy-go-lucky
guy into this borderline sociopath is a true testament to his
abilities. Just by the wild look in his eyes, and the way his
body shakes from both fear and adrenaline had me convinced that he
wanted to kill somebody.
Chisato, played by Kirna Mano was another
surprise performance. While she may seem stiff and lacking
in acting ability, it's actually the way her charater is.
Chisato is a woman who is very uncomfortable with people,
and would much rather be left alone to her own devices. When
she is close to someone, Kirana Mano uses subtle movements to
demonstrate that she wants to get away. Like with Tsukamoto,
she uses her coal black eyes to show her pain. When things
turn sour, her face lightens up in the hopes that Goda will help her
find her true self. When she discovers that Goda doesn't even
know who he wants to be, her tears, and angry reaction had me
feeling sorry for her.
I
like the sly bits of social commentary Tsukamoto places in this
film. Like the cops at the start of the movie, insinuating that if
Goda and his girlfriend has been married instead of shacking up,
then she would not have killed herself. Another example is the
character of Goto, who is so ashamed of his place in the
"suit-and-tie" world, that he goes and beats up any
"suit" he can find to deflect his own anguish.
Naturally, the gun symbolizes the age old desire to own what you
can't have. Tsukamoto takes it one step further, if you do get
the one thing you can't have, what do you do with it, now that you
have it?
With a strong visual style, superb acting, and clever
writing, Bullet Ballet is an amazing film by a extraordinary
director. I have become a devote of the Shinya Tsukamoto
school of movie making, and now I must go and gather all of his
movies to add to my collection of cool films.
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