Brother

[MichaelB]

Confirmed as a Blu-ray release on 21 April 2025.

Takeshi 'Beat' Kitano directs and stars in this brutal crime thriller about a Japanese yakuza forced to flee to Los Angeles after the death of his boss.

In the wake of a failed gang war, Yamamoto ‘Aniki’ (Kitano) arrives in Los Angeles with nothing but a new name and a bag of cash. Re-uniting with his younger brother, he uses his extensive experience as a hardened gangster, to grow a small-time drug operation into an far-reaching criminal brotherhood, attracting the attention of rival gangs with bloodthirsty consequences.

• Presented in High Definition
• The Green Flash (1988, 23 mins): Adam Davis’ short film about an encounter between a runaway and a gangster featuring a young Omar Epps in his first screen role
• Other extras tbc
• **FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Illustrated booklet featuring new writing on the film

[beamish14]

Hugely underrated movie. The first encounter between Kitano and Epps that is shown almost exclusively in close-ups of their faces is hysterical.

[Peacock]

Looking forward to revisiting this strange (aren’t they all?) movie. A bit of an outlier in the Kitano canon.

Was this the last of his films needing a Blu? His later stuff has expensive English subbed Japanese releases.

[swo17]

Imprint had already released Brother. Everything he made up through 2003's Zatoichi is out from either Imprint, BFI, or Third Window

[Peacock]

Ah I somehow forgot about that, thanks. So the only one not available anywhere in HD are his short films?

[swo17]

I'm not really familiar with him having made any shorts besides his contribution to Chacun son cinéma

[rapta]

Been asking BFI or Indicator to get this for years (both labels had Film4 deals at different times), so very happy one of them finally did! Makes sense as BFI released their Kitano set a few years back, and are actively more invested in releasing Japanese cinema. Goes without saying, immediately pre-ordered!