Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Sonatine

Review as haiku,
the seventeen syllables
counted on fingers.

Gangster set-pieces
dominate opening scenes
before stillness falls.

Violence erupts
in deadpan nightclub shoot-out,
gunplay played for laughs.

Bad men now lie low
where sea, sand, horizon meet:
killers killing time.

Measured pace gives hints
of classical film-making,
Ozu with uzis.

Writer-director
"Beat" Takeshi Kitano
exudes po-faced cool.

Bad men pass the time,
sumo and Russian roulette,
triggers pulled with smiles.




4 comments:

Hans A. said...

Very nicely done. An appropriate format for such a poetic film. Sonatine is a personal favorite that I should revisit more often. Great work, Neil.

Neil Fulwood said...

It was an almost subconcious thing writing the review in this style. I generally don't make notes while watching films, and on the few occasions I do they're minimalist. I'd jotted down about a dozen words over three lines and when I read it over after 'Sonatine' had ended, it looked like a haiku. Some part of my brain that doesn't function logically decided it would be a piece of cake writing an article on the film as a haiku sequence. Took me as long as if I'd written my usual 800 words of prose ...

Erich Kuersten said...

A review in haiku
on a bright digital screen
conjures moody clouds

(AKA: Good worK!)

Neil Fulwood said...

Compliments received
are like sun through moody clouds
after day of rain.


In other words: thanks.