Takeshi Kitano interview (spoiler)

[Mile Films]

Fireworks (and Kitano's other films) IS meant to be provocative, unexplained,
and upsetting. But I was surprised that this film found people having problems
with Kitano's view of women. Here in the States, there has been no critic that
I know of (and there have been many women as well) that has brought this up.
Perhaps, can I suggest, that their lack of knowledge of his other films helped
view this one differently? I would definitely agree on Violent Cop, Boiling
Point and Sonatine. (I haven't seen all of Kid's Return, Getting Any? or Scene
at the Sea.)

In Fireworks, I found the wife "damaged" but recognizable as a real human
being. I would compare the situation to John Ford's westerns. Tough men trying
to rule man and nature, but overuled by the wife (think of Fort Apache and She
Wore a Yellow Ribbon). Nishi's motivations are mainly to make her last days
happy and even in her silent state, he clearly listens to her (the scene with
the strawberry). But my thoughts are prejudiced by my background -- my main
interest is in silent film and I particularly look for new films where the
visual tells more than the dialogue. Therefore Miyuki is a very attractive
character for me. After ten or so viewings of the film (I proof the answer
prints and the video masters here), I still discover new things. 

A few interesting thoughts.

When we re-timed the negative and prints, removing the unintentioned magenta
hue, we found the Miyuki looked older and more "wane." Previously, people have
commented on how young and healthy she looked and that she wasn't ready for
death. Does a film change meaning due to bad lab work?

Secondly, we had an interesting conversation with Office Kitano. In Japanese,
the only words spoken by Miyuki at the end (simply translated, I'm told) are
"Thank you ... I'm sorry." In the English subtitles, Office Kitano insisted
that they wanted "Thank you ... for everything." The prior suggests greater
complicity in his previous deeds, but in the latter case, perhaps more
participation in their final decision. 

I think Mr. Kitano meant Miyuki to be a much deeper, more complicated
character than the surface details and that Nishi is as damaged as her by the
daughter's death and his wife's illness. 

Lastly, for the little girl at the end. I don't think Nishi is as amused by
the torn kite as much as he is amused by his final blunder -- similar to the
bad photograph at the temple, falling in the temple's garden trying to
retrieve his camera lenscap, the fireworks blowing up in his face, et cetera.
Nishi is an extremely flawed man who makes many mistakes (besides the obvious
pratfalls), and the suicide becomes the only real option because of these
failures.

Any comments?

Dennis Doros
Milestone