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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Brother (2000)

Brother (2000)

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Released 7-Jun-2005
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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Action	Featurette-Brother Interviews-Cast & Crew-x4 Featurette-Behind The Scenes Notes-Directors Comments Gallery-Photo Biographies-Cast & Crew DVD-ROM Extras Trailer-x6
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	108:49 (Case: 113)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (41:38)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu	Cast & Crew
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Takeshi Kitano
Studio Distributor	Recorded Picture Co. 21st Century Pictures	Starring	Takeshi Kitano Omar Epps Claude Maki Susumu Terajima
Case	Alpha-Transparent	Starring	Takeshi Kitano Omar Epps Claude Maki Susumu Terajima
RPI	?	Music	Joe Hisaishi

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Pan & Scan	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	None
16x9 Enhancement	No
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No	Miscellaneous
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

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Plot Synopsis

Brother is a film about a Yakuza member who makes his way to Los Angeles after he is forced out of Japan.

Aniki (Takeshi Kitano) is a member of the Japanese Yakuza but when his boss is killed he must leave the country or be killed. He travels to Los Angeles to find his half-brother Ken (Claude Maki) and establish a new life for himself. When he arrives in Los Angeles, he finds that Ken and his friends are involved with a group of criminals dealing in drugs. Aniki quickly steps in and takes control of the situation and the group soon finds themselves working their way up the criminal ladder. The bond between this group grows stronger and Aniki forms a close relationship with Denny (Omar Epps) who he treats as a brother.

This film stars and was written, edited and directed by Takeshi Kitano, one of Japan's most popular actor/directors. Viewers may remember Takeshi from his roles in Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, Violent Cop and Battle Royale or the films he has directed including Boiling Point and Hana-bi. The movie was filmed in Los Angeles using a combination of American and Japanese crews and was the first time that Takeshi had directed a film in America. Despite his initial concerns about working with an American crew, Takeshi was pleased with how well the crew was able to work together. Unlike most directors, Takeshi usually only films a single take for a scene and this came as a pleasant surprise to the American actors working on the film. This is a highly entertaining Japanese gangster film that will appeal to all fans of Kitano and will provide an excellent introduction for viewers unfamiliar with his work.

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Transfer Quality

Video

This pan & scan transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. This is very disappointing and many scenes clearly suffer due to the sides of the image being cropped. An obvious example of these cuts may be seen on the back cover of the disc where a person is clearly removed from the shot and only their arm remains.

The transfer is very soft throughout with the level of detail visible only slightly better than you would expect from VHS. During the numerous dark scenes, poor shadow detail is apparent with little detail able to be resolved. This lack of overall detail is very disappointing and is often quite distracting. No low-level noise was detected during the transfer.

The colours displayed during the transfer are always slightly muted and are never vibrant at any stage. The colour palette for this film employs a significant amount of greys and blacks and the poor shadow detail displayed during the transfer emphasizes this.

No MPEG artefacts were detected at any time during the transfer. No aliasing was noted during the transfer, most likely due to the poor sharpness levels displayed throughout.

This transfer was obviously taken from a theatrical print and obvious print damage and artefacts may be seen throughout. Some examples of these artefacts may be seen at 2:50, 3:10, 3:50, 6:40, 8:16 and 8:31. These artefacts are moderately distracting to the viewer due to their frequency and severity.

Obvious telecine wobble may be seen throughout the transfer and is most obvious during the opening credits and when subtitles are displayed. This wobble is distracting to the viewer but as the film progresses it is able to be ignored.

A set of white burned-in subtitles are provided with this transfer. These subtitles do not have a border around them and on a number of occasions, such as 46:20, they are difficult to read against the light background.

The layer change occurs at 41:38 at the start of Chapter 9. It comes between scenes and is not disruptive to the viewer.

*Video Ratings Summary*
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

A single Dolby Digital 448 kbps 5.1 soundtrack is provided on this disc with a combination of both Japanese and English dialogue.

The dialogue is always clear and easy to understand at all times. No dropouts or problems with audio sync were detected during this transfer.

The score by Joe Hisaishi is used minimally throughout the film with a number of scenes obviously silent. During the scenes where the score is present, the piano-based tracks work well and complement the on-screen action.

The surround and subwoofer channels are used aggressively throughout the transfer to create an enveloping soundfield. These channels are used effectively for effects such as explosions and gunshots.

*Audio Ratings Summary*
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Surprisingly, the packaging only mentions the inclusion of additional trailers.

Directors Comments

This is a single page with a comment from director Takeshi Kitano describing why he wanted to make the film and how he found the experience.

Brother Featurette (2:13)

This is a very short featurette that reveals very little information during a number of short comments by cast and crew members. This featurette is presented with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with clips from the movie shown at 1.85:1.

Interviews

During this collection of interviews, cast and crew members discuss their experiences working on the film. These interviews contain some interesting comments from the following participants: Takeshi Kitano (4:49), Masayuki Mori (1:48), Jeremy Thomas (3:55) and Omar Epps (4:02). The first two interviews are presented with a Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack and burned-in English subtitles while the remaining interviews are presented with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. All interviews are presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

Behind The Scenes Footage (4:55)

This is a collection of eight different behind-the-scenes segments presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. Some of these are very short such as a shot of a clapper board and a number of scenes contain only Japanese language with no subtitles. This footage is only of little interest to viewers.

Photo Gallery

This is a collection of thirteen different publicity shots and advertising material from the film.

Takeshi Kitano Biography and Filmography

This is an interesting four-page biography and three-page filmography for Takeshi Kitano.

Omar Epps Biography

This is a four-page biography for actor Omar Epps.

DVD-ROM Extras

This is a collection of production notes and biographical information for Takeshi Kitano. These files are provided in both Microsoft Word and plain text formats.