Brother

2000
Written and Directed by Takashi Kitano
Starring Takashi Kitano, Omar Epps and Claude Maki

Brother didn't get a lot of love when it showed up in American theaters six years ago, and being on DVD hasn't changed that either.  If the film had cost anyone money (it was extraordinarily cheap), it would be more of a vocalized "failure." All of that is too bad, as the film is one that improves over time--while nothing can change the complete misscasting of Omar Epps, who stinks up every scene he wanders through; the quiet cynicism of the film, it's unflinchingly racist portrayal of all of it's major characters and Kitano's nihilistic attitude towards every character in the film makes for an interesting piece of work.  While Brother will always require too much effort for it to be better than Kitano's other films, it's an excellent portrayal of how easy it is for him to give the masses what they want, while doing it so slyly and with such force that it isn't until the final minutes we see how disgusting the whole thing was to begin with--and that Kitano loathes us for begging for it.  For anyone who enjoys cruel, remorseless violence, Brother will always be one of the trickier pieces of entertainment in the genre available--after all, voyuerism is supposed to be a cheap thrill, and Kitano flatly refuses to give it to the viewer at that low of a cost.