Hana-bi

Police detective Nishi visits his wife in hospital even though he should really be at a stake out with his partner and best friend Horibe. In hospital he hears that his wife is incurably ill. His desperation is complete when he hears that Horibe has been shot. Horibe is condemned to a wheelchair-bound life and goes to live by the coast. His wife and child have left him. That and the misery that has been forced on him serve to make him suicidal. Nishi is by now so affected that he leaves active service. He tries to stay cheerful in spite of everything, if only to make the last days of his wife’s life more pleasant. When Horibe finds out he has a talent for painting, Nishi comes to his aid. To buy painting materials for Horibe and to help support the widow of a fellow policeman, Nishi borrows money from a Yakuza money-lender. In the end, overcome by guilt and despair, he considers a bank robbery…Playing the leading role in Fireworks, Kitano is outstanding as the stoic Nishi. Kitano had already demonstrated his ability to plumb the emotional depths in A Scene at the Sea (1991), alongside his dry humour and the necessary police-Yakuza conflicts. Dimitri Eipides in de Toronto catalogue: ‘Fireworks is a startling and successful mixture of tones and emotions.’ Fireworks won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.