25 | ‘HANA-BI’, IMPRESSIONISM, a CREATIVE CHOPSTICK USE
We’re back with ‘HANA-BI’ (‘Fireworks’)(1997), another Japanese yakuza film. Dylan unwittingly picked another artsy one, however, so get ready for a discussion that goes beyond gangsters, cops, and robbers, and gets more into the impressionistic stylings and choices of this unique film that brought international acclaim to Japanese mega celebrity Beat Takeshi. Though ‘HANA-BI’ offers a challenging first watch, it also contains delicate moments that blossom once given some time and reflection. Serenity is punctuated with sudden violence; a gunshot yields to a splatter of paint on canvas. The city and nature push back and forth against one another as characters wonder what life is really about. Hardly anything is handed to us, the audience, and there’s something intriguing in the beautiful voids created there. Miyazaki fans will rejoice from the opening strains of the soundtrack (composed by the legendary Joe Hisaishi), a sweeping collection of variations on the movie’s melancholy main theme. Wonder what it all means in Episode 25. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/framesandfools/message
