Summer's not far away now, and the reality of being able to relax by the beach and take in the sun's rays is edging ever closer. Until then, what better way to get in the summer spirit than sticking on Takeshi Kitano's sun-soaked Okinawan gangster flick “Boiling Point”?
Marking Kitano's sophomore feature, the 1990 film is a critical entry in the director's body of work, establishing many of the defining traits that would come to characterise his much-lauded visual style. Masaki (Yurei Yanagi) is an inconspicuous youth who, after a run-in with the yakuza, heads to Okinawa with baseball teammate Kazuo (Dankan) in search of a gun and with vengeance on his mind. Relentlessly dry humour, moral ambiguity and explorations of masculinity all feature heavily in a film that exudes classic Kitano.
The writer-director stars in the film also, playing the unhinged yakuza psychopath Uehara. The indebted gangster and the young Masaki share similar journeys to an extent, the former perhaps a sign of what the latter could become should he continue down a path of violence. Despite the vile nature of his character, Kitano's charming screen presence and typically comedic physical performance draw you in effortlessly. A tonally grey affair that's as puzzling as it is engaging, “Boiling Point” will bathe you in bloody tropical dreams.
