Broken Rage is a 2024 Japanese film that blends action and comedy, directed, written and edited by the renowned Takeshi Kitano. Fixated on the interplay between violence and black humor, Kitano brings to life a one of a kind masterpiece that mocks and pays tribute to his past works. A gritty crime thriller but not without some absurdist humor, Broken Rage takes a look at the dualism of a story, acting, and the artist’s reflection on his life.
Even though the film is only 66 minutes long, it combines multilayered stories, intricate visuals, and thematic undertones. Kitano’s decision to revisit his works and experiment with them makes this film one of the standout pieces in later years of his career.
Synopsis
Broken Rage is divided into two halves, each takes a look on the same story from a different angle – one is dramatic and the other is comedic.
Part One: Noir-Style Crime Thriller
The first half of the film revolves around Mr Mouse (portrayed by Takeshi Kitano) who is a cynical and tired hitman in world who constantly gets jobs through enigmatic envelopes that are given to him in a quiet café in Tokyo. As calm and precise as a world class athlete, the character operates at a detached efficiency level that mirrors Kitano’s earlier anti-hero films.
The routine rhythm of Mouse’s life gets disrupted when he is abruptly captured by Detectives Inoue and Fukuda. Instead of taking him into custody, the two detectives decide to extend him an offer: Go undercover into a powerful Yakuza organization to dismantle it from within. With prison or death facing him otherwise, Mouse reluctantly agrees.
The resultant plot of the narrative is filled with a taut mixture of violence, betrayal, moral dilemma and self discovery. In light of all the blow after blow the protagonist is forced to endure, Mouse appears to be reevaluating his positional reality as the equilibrium of devotion and self-preservation begins spiraling out of control. The damage is already done—the mood remains dangerously ominous while an accentuated focus on dim lighting and heavy silence only add to the suffocating feeling of tension.
Part Two: The Meta-Comedy
Once the balance of gritty drama is struck, the film takes a rather surreal turn. The same plot is spun, albeit this time as rows of overly ridiculous acts stacked up in a comedy.
In this retelling, Mouse portrays a sketch caricature of a calamitous and incompetent looser who fails to outsmart himself at every turn: bouncing bullets, falling on banana skins, and losing every chance to look and sound intimidating or cool. His integration within the Yakuza turns into a hit fest of nonsensical gags and confusion, and each of the law enforcing folks receive the comical and outrageous treatment too.
Such a self-aware moment occurs when a character climbs out of a suitcase to explain character backstory, or during the excruciatingly long scene of Mouse attempting to sit on a chair which continually collapses underneath him. They mock the yakuza film’s seriousness in the first half and encourage the audience to their blend of absurdism and ponder what gets altered in the story when its structure and tone change, even if the core remains unchanged.
Cast and Characters
Takeshi Kitano as Mr. Mouse: Both a hardened killer and a walking disaster, depending on which half of the film you’re watching. The weight of the film rests on Kitano’s shoulders. His performance ushered the film’s balance with absolute control, shifting back and forth from lethargic vigor to brutal comedy.
Tadanobu Asano as Detective Inoue: A composed police in the first telling of the tale, and an over-the-top deadpan parody in the latter.
Nao Omori as Detective Fukuda: Inoue’s partner who straddles the line of a stern, no-nonsense policeman and later succumbs to a satirical portrayal of utter police ineptitude.
Hakuryu, Shidō Nakamura, Shohei Uno and other members of the supporting cast play out the colorful crime syndicate members as well as law enforcement, enriching the narrative with both absurd comedy and yakuza-esque seriousness.
Production and Creative Team
Director/Writer/Editor: Takeshi Kitano
Producer: Satoshi Fukushima
Cinematographer: Takeshi Hamada
Music: Shinya Kiyozuka
Runtime: 66 minutes
Language: Japanese
Production Companies: Kitano Agency and other collaborators
Distribution: Released on streaming platforms and selected theaters
Themes and Style
Kitano uses Broken Rage not just as a film, but also as a cinematic essay. The dual structure style enables him to explore the boundaries of genre and storytelling. What goes into making a yakuza film without unnerving silence, bottomless ‘tuxedoed’ stoicism, and intense violence? What comes out when those same tropes—or those elements—are mocked? The film doesn’t only pose questions, it goes toe-to-toe with them, dismantling the stereotypes that Kitano popularized.
The film works as a personal reflection as well. His mid-seventies marks Kitano’s dominion on the Japanese entertainment industry as both a comedian and serious actor. In Broken Rage, Kitano embraces both sides of his persona. The outcome is self-aware of his philosophies while also comedically disturbing.
Critical Reception
Viewers of Broken Rage have had very differing views. Many film critics and cinephiles praised the movie as a daring artistic statement while risching Kitano’s career by severely experimenting with tone and narrative structure. The concept of showing the same movie twice with radically different interpretations received praise for its boldness.
Others, however, perceived the humor as uninviting or discordant, especially if they were anticipating a classic Kitano crime film. Some people considered the slapstick acting as undermining the emotional intensity built throughout the first half of the film, while others gladly embraced the dissenting viewpoint.
Discussion and debate of the film comes regardless of preference, so far reaching some calling it a “career bookend” for Kitano—a revisitation of themes and styles left behind in the past but viewed through the lens of age, reflection, and irony.
Conclusion
Broken Rage is a film that is not easy to fully categorize. It does not fit perfectly into a single one of the existing boxes. It defies expectations of genre, narrativen structure, and pays tribute while also serving as a satire. It challenges viewers to rethink the various aspects of storytelling such as the roles structure and tone play in interpretation through its dual format.
For Takeshi Kitano’s ponders, Broken Rage is considered unskippable watching— A dense, yet rich dissection of the subjects he’s sought after for years, presented this time with a palpable cheeky wit and wisdom. For first time viewers, this film serves as a jarring point of entry, but it is admittedly a rare gem in an industry starved of this kind of risk taking artistry.
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