Customer Reviews

Joe Hisaishi Meets Kitano Films

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The CD captures the music of Takeshi Kitano's and Joe Hisaishi's
movie collaborations. Apart from those of the recent productions (Brother, Hana-Bi, Kids Return), this album includes the very first score Hisaishi wrote for Kitano (A Scene at the Sea). All tracks are enjoyable and I highly recommend this.

I found this import at a local Hello Cutie, which was selling it for only $12, (!) and I think it's safe to say it was well worth every penny spent.

The CD is, as other reviewers have said, a collection of the work Joe Hisaishi has done for Takeshi "Beat" Kitano's films. This includes the theme for his recent films "Kikujiro" and "Brother." All in all, each track stands strong on it's own, varying between simple melody to smooth jazz. Listening to the whole CD as a whole can be surprisingly hypnotic, and actually pretty meditative. At the risk of sounding like a film fanboy, Joe Hisaishi definately has to be one of the best composers alive today.

Worth the money - though to be honest I would see about getting it cheaper somewhere else.

This CD is an absolute must have for Kitano fans. The CD includes the best tracks from each of Kitano's movies from the 90s which they collaborated on. Several of the tracks alone are worth the high price. It's worth every penny.

Fans of Kitano films such as Sonatine, Kikujiro, and the supremely excellent Fireworks/Hana-bi might find it hard to keep their hearts out of their mouths when listening to this CD, particularly the "Thanks for everything" track from Hana-bi. But for the uninitiated (poor souls), the music is good enough to stand on its own. The themes are simple, poignant, and expressed using the simplest means: some soaring strings, a little piano tinkle, and percussion that sounds somehow Japanese. Much of it is synthesized and sounds like a karaoke-machine, but it is affecting nevertheless. It ought to be sentimental--it comes very close, in fact--but ultimately I think Hisaishi's music succeeds in evoking genuine emotions.