BROTHER aka ANIKI, MON FReRE

Year: 2000
USA: Sony Pictures Classics
UK: FilmFour
Cast: Kitano 'Beat' Takeshi, Kuroudo Maki, Omar Epps, Masaya Kato, Ren Osugi, Susumu Terajima, Ryo Ishibashi, James Shigeta, Tetsuya Watari, Tatyana Ali, Lombardo Boyar, Tony Colitti, Joy Nakagawa, Darryl M Bell, Wanda Lee Evans
Director: Kitano Takeshi
Countries: USA / France / UK / Japan
Languages: English / Japanese / Spanish
USA: 107 mins
UK: 113 mins
USA Rated: R for pervasive strong violence, language and brief nudity
UK Certificate: 18 contains coarse language, and strong horror and violence
USA Release Date: 20 July 2001 (Limited Release Los Angeles and New York)
UK Release Date: 23 March 2001


Synopsis

BROTHER is written, directed and co-produced by Takeshi 'Beat' Kitano who also plays the starring role of Yamamoto, a tough Yakuza gangster. When Yamamoto is forced out of his clan after a hostile takeover, he leaves Tokyo and flies to Los Angeles to find his younger half brother Ken (Kuroudo Maki) who he has been supporting through college. On arriving in LA he finds Ken has dropped out of college and is instead trying to run a badly organised drug dealing operation with his buddy Danny (Omar Epps).

Yamamoto is disgusted at their feeble attempt and shows them how to take over the LA underworld, Yakuza style, in the most violent ways imaginable. He totally transforms his brother's gang into a posse of professional punishers and trains them in a kamikaze code of honor that puts all other forms of gang bonding to shame.