Note: All payments on movie orders will be processed at the time of shipment. Most films are special orders, so they will take longer to ship than other products.
Special offer: every time you buy three videos, get one free! Just include the promo code MBVideo3plus1 while ordering four videos, and we'll give you the lowest-priced video free.
Fireworks (Hana-Bi) Takeshi Kitano A mesmerizing, poetic drama punctuated by chaotic bursts of violence, this is arguably actor-director Takeshi Kitano's masterpiece. It is a visually elegant tale of an embittered cop who plans a robbery to obtain painting supplies for his crippled partner, and to secure a final journey for his terminally ill wife and himself. Kitano's own distinctive artwork figures prominently in his visual tapestry. "Takeshi is an alchemist, combining wildly varied ingredients--deadpan humor, melodramatic reversals, sudden violence, lyrical imagery of haunting innocence--and making pure gold of them" (Dave Kehr, New York Daily News). Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1997, 103 mins. DVD $44.95
The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi / Sonatine Takeshi Kitano Takeshi Kitano reimagines a Japanese institution with this stellar entry in the Zatoichi canon. The action follows the blind master swordsman, played by Kitano, as he helps two geishas seek revenge on the men who killed their parents. Dispatching enemies in a whirl of artfully choreographed, stylized violence, Zatoichi eventually comes face-to-face with the gang's mastermind (Tadanobu Asano, Ichi the Killer), a man as skilled as Zatoichi with the blade. Cartoonishly bloody and violent, Zatoichi also possesses a humorous heart, best typified by the tap-dance musical number at the finale. DVD also includes Beat Takeshi's Sonatine, a brutal crime thriller about a world-weary yakuza who finds he's been double-crossed after travelling to stop a gang war. Featuring an introduction by Quentin Tarantino. The DVD is letterboxed, closed-captioned, and includes behind-the-scenes featurettes, interviews, Quentin Tarantino video introduction, bonus material, and more. Japan, 2004/1993, 210 mins. DVD $44.95
Boiling Point Takeshi Kitano Takeshi Kitano pits a baseball team against violent mobsters in this distinctive blend of high comedy, gritty action and deeply felt characterizations. When a sandlot baseball player runs afoul of a yakuza member, he turns to a vicious gangster (Kitano himself) to help turn the tables. In this, only his second film as a director, Kitano already demonstrates the inimitable blurring of violence, comedy and moments of serene visual poetry that he would develop more fully in his later films Sonatine, Kids Return and Fireworks. "...offers considerable moment to moment amazement" (J. Hoberman, Village Voice). Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1990, 98 mins. DVD $44.95
Brother Takeshi Kitano Takeshi Kitano comes to America in this grim yakuza drama filmed partially in Los Angeles. Kitano also stars as an individualistic gangster who leaves serious trouble behind in Tokyo and comes to live with his half-brother (Claude Maki) in California. Before long he has built up a new criminal empire, but one that seems destined to crumble as quickly as it rose. Omar Epps co-stars as a criminal initially antagonistic toward his new boss who eventually becomes his most loyal subject. Kitano's distinctive blend of violence and melancholy gives this genre exercise unexpected emotional resonance. The DVD is letterboxed and includes optional French and Spanish subtitles and theatrical trailers. In English and Japanese with English subtitles. Japan/Great Britain/France, 2000, 113 mins. DVD $44.95
Dolls Takeshi Kitano Known for his violent epics, director Takeshi Kitano (Sonatine) shifts forms with this memorable picture that weaves together three stories of undying love. Kitano follows a pair of "bound beggars" wandering through Japan, an aging yakuza boss searching for the love he abandoned 30 years earlier, and a pop star who's about to meet her most devoted fan, likening each character to bunraku puppet theater dolls controlled and driven by unseen strings of love. In Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 2002, 113 mins. DVD $44.95
Getting Any? Takeshi Kitano A goofy, slapstick sex comedy from Takeshi Kitano (Sonatine, Hana-Bi). Completely unlike his other films and directed under the pseudonym Beat Takeshi, Getting Any? is about the ridiculous lengths that one man will go to for sex. A bizarre, odd film that is an absolute hoot. Japan, 1994, 76 mins. DVD $44.95
Kikujiro Takeshi Kitano Filled with warm humor as well as a quiet sadness, Kikujiro came as something of a surprise to audiences expecting the tougher, more violent elements of Fireworks or Sonatine. Yet, with its meditative, reflective tone, this is very much a Kitano film, somewhat in the spirit of his third movie, A Scene at the Sea, although more sentimental. When a lonely young boy takes to the road in search of his mother, a brash, gambling-crazed tough guy (Kitano) is recruited to act as his guardian, leading to several offbeat encounters. A funny and sensitive work that, at its heart, is an affectionate look at boys of all ages at play. In Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1999, 116 mins. DVD $44.95
Sonatine Takeshi Kitano Takeshi "Beat" Kitano wrote, directed and stars in this "brutal, brilliant crime thriller" (Chicago Tribune) about several yakuza from Tokyo who are sent to Okinawa to end a gang war. Kitano himself plays the middle-aged yakuza gangster thinking about retirement, in a film in which violence explodes in scenes of stillness--a film both haunting and hypnotic. With Tetsu Watanabe, Aya Kokumai and Masanobu Katsumura. In Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1993, 94 mins. DVD $44.95