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Japanese
film icon "Beat" Takeshi is one of those actors whose
appearance in a scene bodes ill for everyone else. He's the Japanese
equivalent of Christopher Walken, embodying a sense of humour and
incredible menace in the same package. In such recent films such
as "Battle Royale" and "Brother", the former
children's show host and comedian shows an ability to break the
stillness of a scene with shocking actions.
In
Violent
Cop
(1989) we see the birth of Takeshi, not only as that icon with the
curious limping walk and impenetrable face, but also the director
(using his full name Kitano instead of his stage name "Beat").
Originally slated to be directed by another, Takeshi was called
upon to take directorial control for his first film. The result
is a blend of stark, sometimes inventive composition and uninvolving
pacing.
Takeshi
plays Azuma, a tired Japanese detective who prefers to cut through
his bureau's procedure with often brutal methods. In the opening
scene, Azuma deals with a gang of young punks who beat up a homeless
man by walking straight into the leader's family home and beating
him up to force him to turn himself in.
Azuma's
department is run by careerists and cops on the take, something
he abides with only because he is mainly concerned with helping
care for his mentally disturbed younger sister. But when his own
bureau covers up the assassination of Azuma's best friend in the
department by drug criminals, Azuma chooses to take on a personal
investigation using his direct methods.
Each
scene in Violent Cop seems to begin as a static frame with
characters barely moving, tasking the audience to interpret any
emotions from the story context rather than the character's actions.
It may begin with a still background that stays motionless for several
beats before a tiny character enters the scene at a bottom corner.
Each image of stillness is held steady for something shocking to
shatter it.
This
same composition seems to be what powers the entire film. It's not
that the plot does not move, it's that it seems to move without
comment or underlining, which may test the patience of audiences
used to more dynamic movement. It's a valid complaint. For all that
happens in the film, much of it is at a distance. Takeshi Kitano
does not so much involve the audience as to ask them to stand back
and consider the story.
Almost
a third of the film is gone before the corruption and murder investigation
story begins. In all that time, the audience may be puzzled with
the featureless acting of Takeshi, if they are at the same time
surprised by his sudden actions. The scenes, as well, are paced
long.
When
Azuma finally begins to track down suspects Violent Cop starts
rolling. The stillness of the film is broken by blazing gun play,
seemingly buckets of blood and a willingness to abandon set formula.
In this latter third of the picture Takeshi shows an ability to
surprise more than a few times in his disregard for the conventions
of the crime film. Showdowns that don't quite end the way you expect.
A not-quite-rescue. And an ending note that does nothing to justify
any of the actions of the hero.
On DVD
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