Currently unavailable.
We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock.
Select delivery location

Hana-Bi

Takeshi Kitano (Actor, Director), Kayoko Kishimoto (Actor) Format: Blu-ray
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 259 ratings
IMDb7.7/10.0
Additional Blu-ray options Edition Discs
Price
New from Used from
Blu-ray
January 11, 2016 		—
1
—
— $49.00
Blu-ray
September 19, 2017 		—
1
—
— —
Watch Instantly with Rent Buy
Hana-bi $2.99 $6.99
Add a debit or credit card to save time when you check out
Convenient and secure with 2 clicks. Add your card

From the manufacturer

About Us

Founded in 2002 as one of the first-ever subscription film services with its DVD-of-the-Month Film Club, Film Movement is now a North American distributor of independent and foreign films based in New York City. We have released more than 250 feature films and dozens of shorts culled from prestigious film festivals worldwide, including the Oscar-nominated films. Film Movement’s theatrical releases include American independent films, documentaries, and foreign art house titles. Our catalog includes titles by directors such as Hirokazu Kore-eda, Maren Ade, Jessica Hausner, Andrei Konchalovsky, Andrzej Wajda, Diane Kurys, Ciro Guerra and Melanie Laurent.

Product Description

Product Description

Former police officer Nishi feels responsible for the shattered lives of his loved ones. His partner Horibe has been crippled in a disastrous stakeout, a colleague is shot dead by the same villain, and his own wife has a terminal illness. In debt to a yakuza loanshark, Nishi conceives a bank robbery to provide for his partner, help the dead cop's widow, and take one last holiday throughout Japan with his wife and share a final taste of happiness. A highly original crime drama written, directed and starring Takeshi Kitano.

Review

OFFICIAL SELECTION - Venice Film Festival
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Toronto Int'l Film Festival
OFFICIAL SELECTION - New York Film Festival
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Pusan Int'l Film Festival
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Tokyo Int'l Film Festival
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Fantasporto Film Festival
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Singapore Int'l Film Festival
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Karlovy Vary Int'l Film Festival
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Helsinki Int'l Film Festival
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Locarno Film Festival
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Moscow Film Festival
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Tallinn International Film Festival
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Camerimage Film Festival
---

...meticulously handsome, imaginatively edited...Hana-Bi shows off both [Kitano's] fierce and gentle talents. --Janet Maslin, The New York Times

Hana-Bi announces not only a new kind of 'cop movie' but a template for a new kind of Kitano film. - Jaime N. Christley, Slant Magazine (4 out of 4 Stars)

Glimmers of Kitano s deadpan humor peek through this rich and visually beautiful work that, for all its stylized violence, manages to convey stillness, sweetness, and affecting emotional depth. --Entertainment Weekly

Product details

  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 5.92 ounces
  • Director ‏ : ‎ Takeshi Kitano
  • Media Format ‏ : ‎ NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
  • Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 43 minutes
  • Release date ‏ : ‎ September 19, 2017
  • Actors ‏ : ‎ Takeshi Kitano, Kayoko Kishimoto, Ren Osugi, Susumu Terajima
  • Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English
  • Studio ‏ : ‎ Film Movement
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07473FZSK
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 259 ratings

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
259 global ratings
Thank you Film Movement Classics
5 Stars
Thank you Film Movement Classics
Takeshi Kitano is truly Japan's best kept secret. I found out about him from Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder DVD releases, a short lived home video company he started up with Miramax in which he unleashed Sonatine to the U.S. Kitano was known as a comedian and t.v personality to Japan in his early days (Shows like Takeshi's Castle or as you might know it, most extreme elimination Challenge)Until he began dipping his toes into film in which it was hard for Japanese audiences to take him seriously. That is until this film was released, his 7th. After suffering a motorcycle accident around 1994 which I've read was an "unconscious suicide attempt" he recovered, and continued film making. Dispite the large majority still not thinking of him as a film maker 6 movies into his career and countless acting rolls. He picked up painting as a hobby because of being wheelchair ridden and you see his life experiences played out in this film even his paintings are used. I've never seen someone be so cool so effertlessly as him and whenever someone mentions minimalist films he is first to mind. His filmography ranges from Yakuza style to samurai to heartfelt to his comedy roots. Living in America it is somewhat difficult to track down some of his films many of them being on out of print older DVDs, so this release from film movement was a welcomed edition to the collection (previously only available on New Yorker Video DVD circa 2000.) Film movement has two of his other films on Blu Ray his first and second, However true Kitano fans will come to notice His surrealist trilogy is nowhere to be found for region A players. In which he goes all out even poking fun at himself, hopefully in time his movies will be getting the treatment they deserve with releases like this in the future. So if you are a fan of cinema, appriciate directors, or tired of all the mainstream reboots/remakes/sequels filling our theaters throw up some of his trailers on YouTube and you'll be Itching to see what has been hiding in the shadows this whole time.
Hide
Thank you for your feedback
Sorry, there was an error
Sorry we couldn't load the review

Top reviews from the United States

CC
5.0 out of 5 stars 👍😊Great Suspenseful and Heartwarming film!
Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2024
Verified Purchase
It's one of many Beat Takeshi's beautiful and powerful movie. His performance is so solid and genius that he expressed emotions clearly despite when his character did only utter a few words throughout the entire film.
Helpful
 Report
chris donnelly
5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you Film Movement Classics
Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2018
Verified Purchase
Takeshi Kitano is truly Japan's best kept secret. I found out about him from Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder DVD releases, a short lived home video company he started up with Miramax in which he unleashed Sonatine to the U.S. Kitano was known as a comedian and t.v personality to Japan in his early days (Shows like Takeshi's Castle or as you might know it, most extreme elimination Challenge)Until he began dipping his toes into film in which it was hard for Japanese audiences to take him seriously. That is until this film was released, his 7th. After suffering a motorcycle accident around 1994 which I've read was an "unconscious suicide attempt" he recovered, and continued film making. Dispite the large majority still not thinking of him as a film maker 6 movies into his career and countless acting rolls. He picked up painting as a hobby because of being wheelchair ridden and you see his life experiences played out in this film even his paintings are used. I've never seen someone be so cool so effertlessly as him and whenever someone mentions minimalist films he is first to mind. His filmography ranges from Yakuza style to samurai to heartfelt to his comedy roots. Living in America it is somewhat difficult to track down some of his films many of them being on out of print older DVDs, so this release from film movement was a welcomed edition to the collection (previously only available on New Yorker Video DVD circa 2000.) Film movement has two of his other films on Blu Ray his first and second, However true Kitano fans will come to notice His surrealist trilogy is nowhere to be found for region A players. In which he goes all out even poking fun at himself, hopefully in time his movies will be getting the treatment they deserve with releases like this in the future. So if you are a fan of cinema, appriciate directors, or tired of all the mainstream reboots/remakes/sequels filling our theaters throw up some of his trailers on YouTube and you'll be Itching to see what has been hiding in the shadows this whole time.
Customer image
chris donnelly
5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you Film Movement Classics
Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2018
Takeshi Kitano is truly Japan's best kept secret. I found out about him from Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder DVD releases, a short lived home video company he started up with Miramax in which he unleashed Sonatine to the U.S. Kitano was known as a comedian and t.v personality to Japan in his early days (Shows like Takeshi's Castle or as you might know it, most extreme elimination Challenge)Until he began dipping his toes into film in which it was hard for Japanese audiences to take him seriously. That is until this film was released, his 7th. After suffering a motorcycle accident around 1994 which I've read was an "unconscious suicide attempt" he recovered, and continued film making. Dispite the large majority still not thinking of him as a film maker 6 movies into his career and countless acting rolls. He picked up painting as a hobby because of being wheelchair ridden and you see his life experiences played out in this film even his paintings are used. I've never seen someone be so cool so effertlessly as him and whenever someone mentions minimalist films he is first to mind. His filmography ranges from Yakuza style to samurai to heartfelt to his comedy roots. Living in America it is somewhat difficult to track down some of his films many of them being on out of print older DVDs, so this release from film movement was a welcomed edition to the collection (previously only available on New Yorker Video DVD circa 2000.) Film movement has two of his other films on Blu Ray his first and second, However true Kitano fans will come to notice His surrealist trilogy is nowhere to be found for region A players. In which he goes all out even poking fun at himself, hopefully in time his movies will be getting the treatment they deserve with releases like this in the future. So if you are a fan of cinema, appriciate directors, or tired of all the mainstream reboots/remakes/sequels filling our theaters throw up some of his trailers on YouTube and you'll be Itching to see what has been hiding in the shadows this whole time.
Images in this review
Customer image
Customer image
12 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
David Allen Gann
4.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps his best film.
Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2014
Verified Purchase
Somber, quiet, thoughtful and unsettling. Perhaps his best film. In this film we see less of the flashy Beat Takeshi and more of a Kitano Takeshi working along the lines that less is more.
Helpful
 Report
Caleb C-L
5.0 out of 5 stars Great movie that looks great
Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2022
Verified Purchase
Thank goodness this movie got a bluray release, the paintings look even better now and you can appreciate every detail of their amateurish beauty. Every scene is just as sharp as you'd want it to be. A great movie that's engaging to watch and even more engaging to rewatch, with a great soundtrack too.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
D. Flores
5.0 out of 5 stars Bring a box of tissues and a bottle of prozac...
Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2000
Verified Purchase
This has got to be one of the most simultaneously beautiful and depressing films of recent memory. We've all heard a great deal about the economic doldrums that Japan has been facing for the last decade or so, but economic statistics mean little to us when the country and its people lie a half world away. It takes a film like this one, and a director like Takesi, to put a human face on these numbers, to paint a terrible portrait of despair as it grips an entire people and a nation. We view this dark world through the eyes of a Tokyo policeman who, pushed over the edge by his seemingly impossible economic circumstances and the senseless brutality of Yakuza gangsterism, concludes that in the end, the only thing that matters to him is to provide a few last days of joy and warmth for his dying, leucemic wife. Her fragile beauty and innocent purity stands in stark and terrible contrast the the ugliness that surrounds her, and there is an almost nihilistic, but nonetheless incontrovertible logic to his decision. It is a dark, violent, seemingly hopeless, but ultimately beautiful film.
12 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Robert
5.0 out of 5 stars Love story
Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2021
Verified Purchase
Not a Romeo and Juliet story, yet a true love story in a tragic Japanese style!
Helpful
 Report
William Flanigan
3.0 out of 5 stars Cop Turned Rouge.
Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2019
FIREWORKS / HANA-BI (HANABI) .

Rating = *** (out of five stars)
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Producers: Kazuhiro Furukawa et al.
Streaming (FilmStruck)
1997

Director Takeshi Kitano's mash up of flowers (hana)--literally and figuratively--and fires (bi)--violence--is sparse on dialog (especially the character-developing kind), but rich on images as a police vs. yakuza melodrama with bits of comedy, a rekindled romance, and terminal sadness. Kitano is also the writer, picture painter, co-editor, and lead actor). The Director plays a character with a bipolar disorder that alternates (usually abruptly) between serenity (almost sweetness) and brutality (which yakuza fear). Recently separated from the police force after a yakuza shoot-up that left several detectives dead or seriously injured (for which he is blamed), Kitano borrows money from yakuza to pay his dying wife's medical bills, single handedly carries off a daring bank heist, pays off his loan, and flees with his wife on a one-way, memory-lane trip to scenic sites with yakuza (trying to get the bank loot) and former police colleagues (trying to get Kitano and the money) in pursuit. The Director compares actions of the police with those of yakuza, making the point that the behavior of both groups is pretty similar when it comes to acts of violence. Kitano over doses on the therapeutic impact of painting, but the many surrealistic transformation of flowers into animal forms on canvas are fascinating (and really play a co-staring role!). The Director's style takes some getting used to, and early on is often just too languid (the camera also lingers on after the actors have left the frame) between spikes of violence. But persistent and patience will payoff. Overall, actors deliver fine performances, and characters played by Kitano (with and without sunglasses), Kayoko Kishimoto, and Tetsu Watanabe are especially enjoyable. Cinematography (semi-widescreen, color) is stunning and artifact free (but a bit on the static side). Editing is crisp, although flashbacks could benefit from adding more clues when transitions from present to past occur. Music and subtitles are good. Recommended. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.
Details:
Print = 5 stars;
Streaming (FilmStruck) = 5 stars;
Cinematography (semi-widescreen, color) = 4/5 stars;
Direction = 3/4 stars;
Performances = 3/4 stars;
Editing = 3 stars;
Music = 3 stars;
Subtitles = 3 stars.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
P.J.
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully shot, contemplative movie
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 10, 2022
Verified Purchase
I remember watching Hana-Bi on TV about 20 years ago and thinking it was fantastic. I've been catching up on Takeshi Kitano's work on DVD/Blu ray recently and I'm delighted to report that I still love this movie.

It's kinda presented as a crime/heist movie, but that's not really the whole of it. It's more a story about a man coming to terms with his dying wife's illness as his life collapses around him, juxtaposed with another severely depressed man saving his soul through creating works of art. The cops and gangsters stuff is window dressing for this. I found it quite moving back then and I still do now. It's hard not to think that this was Kitano working through his own issues through the medium of film, considering what was going on in the director's own life at the time and his own near-death experience. The cinematography is superb here too. I think Kitano wanted to show us the beauty of the Japanese landscape (and show off his own paintings!) too - and we get this here in spades.

If you want a straight up rip-roaring Yakuza movie, go watch Kitano's "Outrage". If you want a straight up maverick cop movie, watch his "Violent Cop". This one is more slow and thoughtful. Absolutely worth investing your time in this, though I guess some people might find it a little "slow". Leaves you with a lot to think about.

Wonderfully presented Blu-ray too. Nice clear picture/sound and good subtitles. There are also plenty of extras.

One criticism I do have (not worth knocking a star off) is that I think that audio commentary could have been better. I know most people only listen to these once or twice, but I sometimes appreciate the insight/context/stories about the production/etc. Here, it starts off okay, but I'm the last half hour or so, the fellow seems to run out of things to say and just starts describing what we just watched happen on screen and there is a lot of silence. It doesn't detract from the movie, but I thought it worth mentioning.

If you want to see Takeshi Kitano strutting around with a stony face, kicking ass, spilling blood and killing a bunch of bad guys, there is some of that here too, but I think if you come into this, expecting this to be a tough-guy movie, you'll be disappointed. It's way more than that. Maybe it's supposed to be a deconstruction of that sort of movie.

Definitely check this one out.
Report
Daniel López
5.0 out of 5 stars Edición a la altura de la pelicula.
Reviewed in Spain on March 5, 2021
Verified Purchase
Edición con muy buena imagen y sonido, muy parecida al resto de ediciones que M3 ha ido sacando de Takeshi Kitano, algunos extras, un librito explicativo y funda slipcover. Si os gusta este cine o este director, no lo dudéis, es una edición muy buena.
Report
Cliente de Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars Sintetiza el mundo de Kitano
Reviewed in Mexico on October 28, 2018
Verified Purchase
Obra maestra con significados compartidos pero en una historia de mafia y amor verdadero
One person found this helpful
 Report
valière
5.0 out of 5 stars « tout est dit dans le silence »
Reviewed in France on October 15, 2016
Verified Purchase
"Aimer, ce n'est pas se regarder l'un l'autre, c'est regarder ensemble dans la même direction." Antoine de Saint Exupéry
Deux êtres côte à côte vont faire ensemble le grand voyage, avant que la maladie ne les sépare à jamais. Pour cela, l’ex policier n’hésite pas à braquer une banque, rembourse ses dettes de jeux et part avec sa compagne. Ils vont ainsi vivre de merveilleuses heures. Pas besoin de grand dialogue, l’amour profond qui uni ce couple est magnifié et rythmé par la musique, la beauté nostalgique des paysages. De temps à autres, quelques malfrats tentent de troubler cette douce quiétude, on tire, on supprime. La mort, la justice, Takeshi Kitano nous fait vibrer à l’unisson de ces personnages : un grand film qui ne laisse pas indifférent
3 people found this helpful
 Report
Sven Draht
5.0 out of 5 stars Tod, Gewalt und Liebe
Reviewed in Germany on July 6, 2009
Verified Purchase
Dieser Film vereint ruhige Bilder mit emotionaler Spannung, die nur im Gesicht des Hauptdarstellers Takeshi Kitano zu erkennen ist. Bis zum unausweichlichen Finale, kommt es zu Gewaltszenen, intimen Momenten einer Beziehung und dem Kampf eines Polizisten, der zuviel durch gemacht und gesehen hat, mit sich selber.
Ich bin ein Fan und mag man objektiv behaupten, der Film habe seine langweiligen Szenen oder sei überhaupt sehr zäh zu schauen, so gibt es viele Symbole in den text freien Szenen, scheinbar jede Kameraeinstellung hat ihre Bedeutung. Zum Beispiel exakt geteilte Ansichten von Himmel über Land, Himmel über Wasser, Fahrzeuge verschwinden hinter abbrechenden Kurven scheinbar ins Nirgendwo, berühmte Tattoobilder von Dämonen und Geistern im Hintergrund usw.
In der Reihe von Kitanos Filmen, gehört dieser zu den wichtigsten, da er die Grundthematik, von , Tod und Leben, Liebe und Gewalt, brilliant einfängt. Typisch für die asiatische Ästhetik ist das Paradoxe. Wo scheinbar nichts passiert oder zu sehen ist, findet die Handlung statt und umgekehrt. Gewöhnungsbedürftig für europäisches Empfinden. Meine Empfehlung ist sich anschauen ( besonders hören wegen der Jazzmusik, die improvisiert, genau zum Film passt), schokiert sein, traurig sein, gespannt sein und nie wieder vergessen.
3 people found this helpful
 Report