Broken Rage (2024)

Kitano does what Kitano does best

Can't believe this got shadow-dropped onto Prime a few days ago and I'm only just learning about its release now 😭... Takeshi Kitano may be in his twilight years but that's not stopping him from doing what he loves and doing it well, with Broken Rage he paints a rollicking self-portrait of himself; an artist rethinking his relationship with the medium he's mastered and having a decidedly grand time in the process. It's a remarkably clever tactic to initially convey your story one way, only to backpedal in the second half and present it in a completely different style; it's a move that massively pays off and delivers some prime Kitano hilarity; tackling the two genres he's always been most known for, starting from a drier deadpan before rebooting into unbridled absurdity, a concise lesson in parody, creating a simple form and then breaking it with the subtle force of a sledgehammer through wood on a nail bed. In many ways, it can be seen as Kitano mocking the current filmmaking climate we live in, poking holes in everything and everyone he can, a perfect amalgamation of his works distilled into a crisp 66-minute runtime. It is a significant departure from traditional storytelling, that pays off tenfold in many ways with Broken Rage adhering to the two most significant adages in show business: always leave them laughing and wanting more; it's utterly hilarious, Kitano knows it and embraces it delivering both a love letter to himself and his fans while also ridiculing both.

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