Takeshi Kitano's minimalist yakuza film is about alienation both cultural and emotional and while it has its violent, kinetic moments, it seems determined to avoid creating any kind of rhythm, preferring to remain cold and distant from the viewer. Kitano uses offbeat camera angles to create a sense of disorientation as he plays a gangster fleeing from Japan to hide out with his stepbrother in L.A. Enforcing a brutal takeover of the city's underworld (unflinchingly exterminating any Italian or Asian crime bosses who stand in his way) for no other apparent reason than to just do it (the film is a perfect example of existential theory), he remains aloof from all who surround him except for one of his henchmen (Omar Epps) and even there the relationship is tenuous at best. Kitano's take on L.A. is unusual, a sort of cross between Tarentino and Antonioni, where the streets are deserted except for a small criminal contingent (there are no police; a massacre in a hotel conference room goes off without interference) and a place where the sun can't peek through the smog--but it's perfect for Kitano's depiction of the void. Far too foreign for mass audiences and too violent for the art crowd, it's nonetheless an interesting creation from a filmmaker with an uncompromising vision.
