San tai Yon ekkusu Jugatsu / Boiling Point (1990) - Baseball tactics meet hockey fights - 6/10 (17/04/19)

Boiling Point, originally titled 3 to 4x October in reference to a baseball game shown in the movie, is the first film where Takeshi Kitano was in full charge as writer, director and actor. The movie is quite experimental as it is a mixture of a gangster film, drama and black comedy. Its style foreshadows Takeshi Kitano's later successful movies like Fireworks.

The movie tells the story of Masahiko Ono, a young man with an unspectacular life who is considered the worst player of his terrible baseball team, has a boring job as gas station attendant and has never got on a date with a woman. One day, he confronts a rude yakuza who intimidates him at the gas station. The young man's life goes through dramatic changes from then on. With growing self-confidence, he starts dating a charming waitress of a local restaurant, becomes a better baseball player and gets in touch with members of the underworld. However, the confrontation with the criminal also has drastic consequences as Masahiko Ono's friend and mentor gets beaten up when he tries to solve the conflict between the gas station attendant and the organization. Masahiko Ono decides to take revenge and travels to Okinawa with a friend where they get in touch with a pitiless criminal and his associates to purchase weapons.

On the negative side, the movie has a dragging pace and especially the long baseball sequences are quite unspectacular. The first ten minutes of the movie actually show an amateur baseball game. Other directors would have shown a few scenes consisting of one or two minutes in total but Takeshi Kitano takes his time to plunge us into the protagonist's boring life. The movie is also confusedly meandering between its numerous genres. Some scenes have a gloomily dramatic tone but suddenly turn into gritty violence only to switch to black humour dealing with debatable taboo topics like sexual abuse. It doesn't help that it's hard to empathize with the protagonist who is often shown as being quiet, emotionless an dim-witted. Takeshi Kitano himself only appears halfway through the movie and leaves before the final showdown as he only portrays a side character.

On the positive side, the film had a consistent gloomy mood from start to finish, even in its more humorus parts because they always had somewhat tough undertones. Some of the characters are quite memorable such as the rude and tough barman, former yakuza and protaginist's friend played by Taka Guadalcanal. Takeshi Kitano portrays a pitiless gangster with unpredictable fits of anger who regularly hits his girlfriend and even rapes his best friend. The entire movie is filled with anti-heroes who have failed to find their way in life. The film has quite a few iconic scenes. The movie's showdown is unexpectedly radical. There is an awkward brawl in a bar when people fight each other while dancing, singing and having dinner. My favourite scene is when the tough barman insults a female customer who complains about the smelly restrooms and invites her to go pee outside and take her friends with her.

In the end, Boiling Point is an odd movie with almost as many weaknesses as strengths. It's an acquired taste and certainly unlike any movie you have ever watched. Even by Takeshi Kitano's eclectic standards, Boiling Point stands out as a particularly experimental film. Perhaps this film will grow on me but its weirdness makes it hard to digest. Beyond its awkwardness, the movie still has some depth as the intriguing conclusion leaves room for interpretation. If you like experimental Japanese cinema and don't mind swear words, brutal fights and abusive behaviour, you should give this film a try.