Alternate Takes
La Biennale di Venezia
MOVIE REVIEW
Broken Rage (2024)
It’s always delightful when a beloved director decides to do a silly one. Based on the overexcited cheers and fervent applause at the piracy warning – not even the opening credits! – before the first press screening at the Venice Biennale, “Broken Rage” is going to be met with howls of delight wherever it goes. It’s a 62-minute-long parody of crime cinema, written, edited and directed by Takeshi Kitano, starring himself. It is also an entirely coherent cinematic experience even as it twists in upon the story it is telling; and it makes the delightful choice of getting stupider by the second. This is unlikely to be the capstone to Mr. Kitano’s career, but regardless “Broken Rage” obeys two important showbiz adages: always leave them laughing; and always leave them wanting more.
Mouse (Beat Takeshi) is an elderly hitman who normally gets his assignments in an envelope marked with an M from a waiter in a generally empty café. But after a sloppy hit, he is caught and forced to work undercover for the police instead of going to prison. As part of the undercover work, he must become part of the crew of a terrifying yakuza so his drug suppliers can be identified. If this involves a few murders and a large amount of brutality, so be it.
And then the movie tilts, and we see the movie again, this time as slapstick comedy. The torture scene involves someone on a bed of nails as Mouse wails, “Stop it! That’s so scary!” There is a surprising amount of physical comedy for a 77-year-old star (or his stunt doubles) and someone getting assassinated for having a bad mobile phone. It’s so ridiculous it’s hard to express; and that’s without spoiling the best running gags.
Mr. Kitano’s previous film, “Kubi”, had a body count in the thousands in addition to a very loud queer subtext but failed to secure international distribution despite premiering at Cannes. “Broken Rage” was produced by Amazon and will no doubt go global on Prime Video sometime next year. If nothing else it will serve as a great primer for those who are new to Mr. Kitano’s career, one which began decades ago on Japanese television as a clownish comedian and gameshow host. In movies he has both directed and acted in what are primarily insanely violent crime thrillers, such as 2000’s surprise international smash “Battle Royale.” But what is remarkable about his movies is that their extreme violence isn’t unpleasant to watch. Shocking and gratuitous, sure. But through all of his work there’s a surprise about the situations people can get themselves into mixed with a tenderness toward our human impulses, whether they’re good or very bad indeed. Possibly this is a comedian’s inability to take anything too seriously, or a deep-seated need to find the laughs wherever they reside. In “Broken Rage” if that’s in a bar shootout or an underdressed jog through late-night Tokyo (all beautifully filmed by Takeshi Hamada) then so be it. It’s a delightful time.
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