Outrage Beyond - Venice Film Festival, TIFF and NYFF – Review

‘Outrage Beyond’ is a sequel to Kitano’s acclaimed Yakuza (Japanese mafia/gangster) film ‘Outrage’. It is the first sequel ever made by legendary, multi-talented Japanese director Takeshi Kitano. Kitano aka Beat Takeshi is known for his original style and … his ego! Kitano is fascinating and his personal story remarkable.

Kitano’s films are legendary. ‘Brother’, ‘Hana-bi’, ‘Dolls’, ‘Kikujiro’, ‘Zatoichi’ and others are very familiar to western viewers especially the arthouse film crowd. In Japan, Kitano is considered a national treasure creating films that attract huge national and international box office. He was once described as “the true successor” to Akira Kurosawa. I think it is safe to say that his Yakuza films are to Japanese what ‘The Godfather’ is to Americans and Europeans. Outrage Beyond premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, had is north American premiere at TIFF and has just been shown at the 50th NYFF.

Kitano is a true man of the renaissance, a rare and highly talented individual with a most unusual personal story. He is a comedian, poet, painter, teacher, author, TV personality, director, screenwriter, actor and video game designer. He has been awarded A Commander of the Arts and Letters of France. His career seemed almost over in 1994 when he suffered a terrible motorscooter accident that left half his body paralyzed. He describes his accident as an unconscious suicide attempt. It was speculated that he would never work again but after multiple surgeries he took up painting in a style reminiscent of Marc Chagall. The works were so popular they were featured in art galleries, on album covers, books and in his next film that would confirm his international prowess as a modern filmmaker. ‘Hana-bi’ was a breakthrough in Japanese Yakuza filmmaking winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1997. The unique film style, storyline, characters and signature violence essential to Kitano’s storytelling made this movie remarkable. It firmly launched Kitano internationally as a ‘new kind’ of filmmaker.

“Kitano has the charisma of a Hollywood star of 50 years ago-an Asian Robert Mitchum- who is also a gifted and original filmmaker.”                                                                                                                                                                                                              New York Daily News

‘Outrage’ made in 2010 tells the story of a bloody dispute between Yakuza families in Tokyo. Otomo played by Kitano is a mafia underboss mixed up in a fight between two ‘brothers’. He is very quiet, distant, honorable and extremely violent! Even though listed as the lead we actually follow other characters more than Otomo. ‘Outrage Beyond’ is not much different in this sense.

‘Outrage Beyond’ opens a few years after some events that have led everyone to believe the character Otomo is dead. They are wrong – he’s back and seeking vengeance. At first hesitantly, Otomo agrees to join forces with an unexpected ally from his past to seek retribution. What follows is a violent and profoundly architected scheme of revenge on Otomo’s torturers.

Beat Takeshi’s character is scary to say the least. He hardly ever talks, looks at his enemies calmly and analytically and when it comes to killing – he’s extremely violent and savage. He is most definitely not a positive character but in comparison to other Yakuza members we learn to sympathize with him. Most of all he is incredibly honorable and willing to deal with all the consequences of his actions.

If you are expecting and action packed gangster shootout film you’re not going to get it. Outrage Beyond is deliberately slow paced and builds up a dramatic and complicated plot through very well acted and relatively long scenes. The story is complex, goes deep into the Yakuza’s structure and relations with the police. There are many characters to follow and each one is interesting and well developed. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of action but it just does not dominate. Thanks to a very carefully selected number of unique action scenes the film delivers a deep and compelling story.