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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?

DVD VISION TEST

VIDEO: A great looking transfer. The stark black and white photography is clean and free of defects, but it is a little grainy, because of the source material.  There are no, repeat, no pixels, no wrinkles, or edge enhancement!

AUDIO: The 5.1 Japanese audio track has a full bodied sound, with great directionality.  It's not that they really need it with all the dialogue, but it's nice to have.

On the 2.0 audio commentary, the voice of Tom Mes is loud and clear.  The sound from the movie is in the background, but you can barely hear it.

EDITS: Nothing has been touched.  It's 100% unedited.

EXTRAS: There is the standard Bio/Filmographies of the cast, an interesting interview with director Tsukamoto, two original Japanese trailers, and promotional materials that no one can read.  There is also another outstanding commentary with Tom Mes included on this DVD.

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?

You can really understand where Tsukamoto is coming from when you watch his interview or listen to the outstanding commentary track from Tom Mes.  From an incident of his youth, combined with a story about the dual lives of young Tokyo kids, he developed a story that not only looks at the dichotomy of being what society wants vs. what you want, but how inhuman both worlds are.  He also is a true leader of independent film, as he makes a movie the way he wants.  Everything, from the documentary style filming, to the symbolic visuals is exaclty the way he wants it.  Any movie that has "Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto" on the cover, I am going to buy, regardless if I know the story or not.

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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