OUTRAGE – The Review

In many ways, Takeshi Kitano is perhaps as close to a one man machine as you will find in the filmmaking business. As is generally the case with most of his films, Kitano wrote, edited directed and starred in his latest film to hit the United States called OUTRAGE (2010). Once again, Kitano delves into a story centered on the Yakuza life. As is often, but not always the case, OUTRAGE contains more than a fair share of violence bordering on gratuitous, but relevant given Kitano’s ideology of showing the Yakuza in the extreme light and ironic nature that he often does with his storytelling.

Kitano, credited under the fitting pseudonym of “Beat” Takeshi, plays Otomo, an experienced Yakuza enforcer with an implied history as a boxer. The boss of the head family, known as Mr. Chairman, orders his lieutenant to crack down on the drug trafficking being perpetrated by a lesser branch of the Yakuza gone rogue. The complications quickly arise when Mr. Chairman reveals himself as a ruthless, backstabbing boss that has strayed from the old ways and code of the Yakuza. As they say, the “shit flows downhill” and Otomo ends up being at the bottom where he discovers his years of loyalty have meant nothing.

For the first third to half of OUTRAGE, the plot feels somewhat slow and messy, twisted and fragmented, but be patient and follow along as best you can, as it all comes together in the end. In some respects, this is a typical revenge story, but told in a very atypical fashion. Kitano’s chopping editing and fragmenting of the story serves to accentuate the manufactured chaos being designed by Mr. Chairman, paying off with a multi-faceted string of plot twists in the end.

“Beat” Takeshi is always a joy to watch play a badass. His common tendency is to wash emotion and expression fro his character’s face, resulting in an oddly serene but serious persona that could, in an instant, snap and do some serious damage to the person confronting him. As a filmmaker, Kitano is extraordinarily adept at visualizing his stories through the camera. Composition of frame is one of the key elements that continually draw me to Kitano’s films, meticulously constructing frames of beauty out of the simplest setting, like the art of Zen gardening with shrubs and stones.

One of the most fascinating examples of Kitano’s eye for the camera in OUTRAGE is a shot taken from a high angle over a long stretch of two-lane road. This stretch of road follows the coastline and travels into the distance, disappearing into the top edge of the frame, playing on the horizon perspective, while the angle itself offers a tremendous visual dynamic to an otherwise drab setting. This shot follows one of the most brutal, albeit creative, Yakuza kill scenes, and lingers for a moment.

OUTRAGE is not amongst the best of Kitano’s undertakings, but is certainly worth seeing. One may think his continued source of inspiration in the Yakuza would get dry and overused, but surprisingly, it does not. One element that adds to my enjoyment of OUTRAGE is the uncharacteristically electronic score from Keiichi Suzuki, giving the film a fresh edge. In the end, OUTRAGE is a superficially complex tale of criminal bosses in a power struggle with each other, riddled with deception and hair-trigger violence, but levels out to reveal itself as an ironic twist of fate with a melancholy ending.

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

OUTRAGE opens today in St. Louis at Landmark’s Tivoli Theatre.