Product Details

• Actors: Takeshi Kitano, Aya Kokumai, Tetsu Watanabe, Masanobu Katsumura, Susumu Terajima
• Directors: Takeshi Kitano
• Writers: Takeshi Kitano
• Producers: Kazuyoshi Okuyama, Masayuki Mori, Takio Yoshida, Toshio Nabeshima
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, NTSC
• Subtitles: English
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Miramax
• VHS Release Date: February 1, 2000
• Run Time: 94 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000009RMV
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #345,774 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing movie!, May 10, 2001

By 

C. Callaway (Davenport, IA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sonatine [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I was surprised to read the negative reviews but in a way I understand. The movie is not for everyone. In my younger days, I would have felt that the movie was too slow. But now I think this is one of the greatest movies. The movie moves at a slow pace but that is the point. You get to know the people "as they are", not in an action packed or glamorous way.

I especially liked the end "fight scene" where he takes out the bosses, note how he "says it all without saying anything". This is a "must see" movie...

-CC-

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars masterpiece, February 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Sonatine [VHS] (VHS Tape)

this is the first takeshi movie i saw, and a few hours ago i just watched his other masterpiece, FIREWORKS. i now pray for the distribution of his earlier movies in this country, because the director of these two is a man of real genius. certainly better than any american director working today. takeshi's direction and acting are literally flawless, with a stoic lyricism remniscent of Hemingway's writing. he's the best asian director of our time.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, Funny, Poignant: Definitely not a John Woo Movie, September 7, 1999

By A Customer

A brilliant, highly stylistic deconstruction of the film noir genre. Those who are familiar with the yakuza movies, too, will appreciate just how much of a radical departure this is from the conventions of the genre. All the action takes place in the most incongruous places, the yakuza life is portrayed (highly realistically but hilariously) as long stretches of interminable boredom disrupted by totally uncontrollable bursts of violence, characters often stare directly into the camera completely ignoring the matching eyelines (a la Ozu Yasujiro). John Woo aficionados will be disappointed; donft expect macho posturing or hail of bullets. By the way, the video package available through Quentin TarrantinoÕs Rolling Thunder line is transferred from an incredibly clean and crisp print, although not letterboxed. The drawback is that English subtitles suck; for one, liberally interspersing the dialogue with@h f**kh when the characters are saying nothing of the sort.