Nishi, a haunted and "violent" ex-cop, is on the downward spiral of life: His wife is dying from Leukemia, his ex-cop partner/friend (now crippled from Nishi's absence on a stakeout) teeters on the edge of suicide, and also helps financially the wife of another dead police officer from the same stakeout. Nishi's first decision to solve his problem involves borrowing money from the local Yakuza but since he cannot pay the interest his last option is to masquerade as a police officer in order to rob a bank.
I finally get around to see what many critics' and Kitano's fans call his quintessential work. Well after viewing the film I still believe that all his films, that I've seen, are quintessial. Though I cannot help but feel that the excerpts of reviews on the back paint a completely different image of the same film. With quotes such as "Like A Charles Bronson Death Wish Movie" or "A Masterpiece In Violence" I think it proves how people, when presented with violence, see nothing but the violence and miss out on development and the theme. Fireworks certainly is violent (though nowhere near on the same level as Violent Cop) but the violence is an aspect of the film, a characteristic of Nishi's world. Fireworks presents an emotional ride that leaves you heartbroken and distraught in the conclusion.
Say, you guys know that Kitano film where he plays that emotionally withdrawn (for the most part), dark-witted, violent, police officer/gay hit man/yakuza with the still movements; well he does it here and to perfection. Nishi knows of the violence he is capable yet exposes different side to the audience with his wife: It's the trivial subtle actions like how his wife would steal a dessert of his dish which leaves him with a short though honest simile, or when they're only in the field at night lighting of fireworks. Hirobe, Ren Ousgi, conveyed the depth of his character's sadness due to his confinement to a wheel chair and abandoned by his family. Nishi's wife, played by Kayoko Kishimoto, had a glint of happiness in her eyes that she and her husband would ultimately share. Her relationship with Nishi resembled that of a child's: She provides Nishi with Innocence. Tetsu Watanabe as the junkyard owner highlighted the film's comedic moments with the Beat Kitano style.
The slow yet attention grabbing pace of the film follows that of his other gangster films: Sonatine and Violent Cop. The violence in the film is exhibited in such a sophisticated manner that it becomes viewable yet at the same time just… occurs, and when it occurs, leaves you desensitized almost but gives you a greater understanding of the characters. Fireworks overflows with the portrayal of isolation, loneliness, joy, and ultimately sadness. The emotional impact of the film owes its existence not only to actors/actresses but also due to the editing (The first third of the film is mixed with flashbacks) and a beautiful film score to boast from Joe Hisaishi (Also did the wonderful film scores to Kikujiro and Princess Mononoke just to name a few).
I gained nothing short of pure enjoyment from Fireworks just as I have with his other films. Whether or not it's his raison d'etre is ultimately up to you the audience. Though when I did view Fireworks I sensed that it was carefully constructed with Kitano's most personal and human emotions (Perhaps due to his near-fatal motorcycle accident when working on the film caused this).
The DVD, distributed by New Yorker Video is presented in letterbox format. The subtitles are quite good though my only fault with them is that you cannot turn them off. The extras on it are exceptional: Cast profiles, filmographies, trailers for Fireworks, making of featurette, a scene gallery and art galley in which Kitano explains their symbolic purpose.
The Spectrum release has excellent Widescreen anamorphic transfers, better than the US release and a very good DD 2.0 Japanese audio track. The English subtitles are also of excellent quality and even the texts that appear in the movie are subbed. The extra consists of a Making of 15min, which is unfortunately not subbed in English and also a trailer of the movie. The DVD comes in a slip case with a small booklet of 50 pages, which is all in Korean again. The running time of the movie makes me believe that the movie is completely uncut (1H43), which is a good thing. The only down side of the DVD is the menus which consist only of texts, even the chapter selection. The Korean DVD edition is in my opinion the best NSSC version available. Better than the US edition renamed Fireworks; it is also a great alternative to the expensive Japanese R2 edition.