K_Todorov A visually stunning experiment in motion picture storytelling Shynia Tsukamoto's "Bullet Ballet" is a semi-revenge tale, semi-philosophical examination of the human condition. It explores themes and ideas concerning both the moral and social collapse of the modern man. As his earlier works such as "Tetsuo" and "Tokyo Fist" Tsukamoto uses the visual representation, the composition of individual scenes, minimalist colour palette, in this case a wonderfully sharp contrast between black and white, to express his ideas rather than just bombarding us with excessive amounts of expository dialogue. From the opening Goda (Shinya Tsukamoto) seems content with his life. He has a nice job working as a commercial director, has a long term girlfriend, and at the moment he is sitting at a table apparently drinking. The phone rings, its his girlfriend. They have a nice little chat, and Goda seems pleased, and why shouldn't he be, everything is alright. The conversation ends, Goda returns home and finds his girlfriend dead. She killed herself. She killed herself with a gun. Goda doesn't understand why, everything was alright, just a minute ago they were talking on the phone and now she killed herself. She killed herself with a gun. Goda is lost. He is standing in front of an old mirror in a old room, drops of water violently hitting a half-dead cockroach on the floor, Goda raises his hand, as if a gun, he aims at his reflection, tense, and pulls the imaginary trigger three times. Titles roll "Bullet Ballet", a dance of death. A dance of death, is the easiest way to describe the movie itself, but not in the usual way mind you. Bullet Ballet is more concerned with its characters and their lack of… connection, to put it bluntly, with the world, as Goda becomes obsessed with his girlfriend's death he tries to acquire the same gun with which she shot herself. Meanwhile he meets up with this girl he once helped, and gets in trouble with some guys from the gang she's in. The girl,Chisato(Kirina Mano), is on first impression simply suicidal, but that is just first impression. Goda's obsession grows, hardened by a burning desire for revenge against the gang, he sets out to make his own gun. And then it hits us, the reality of the situation, just hints at first, but even so it is becoming clear what is happening to this man. The gun, you see, is simply a metaphor, and of course it is a metaphor for death. He wants to understand his girlfriend's death, but he is losing himself in the process. He is losing his connection to life. Reason for being? He has none. And as the story slowly rolls forward, there is this impression that the dance of death is really the idea of facing death, witnessing death, surviving death, and then being reborn again. This idea comes the observation of the relationship between Goda and Chisato, the two characters obviously seem connected by their disconnection from the outside world. They understand each other. In a way they are one character split in two, with each segment providing hints to the overall motivation of the two. Chisato provides proof that Goda is dancing with death like she is, while Goda's past hints to a traumatic experience that lead Chisato to her current disposition. The final scene is the catharsis of the story, when the two characters finally experience all the chaos, finally witnessing all the death, seeing its effect on others, are free from their emotional blockage. Shinya Tsukamoto wrote, directed and produced "Bullet Ballet". He was also in charge of lightning, set design … and played a leading role. The man, much like his Tetsuo is a machine, a one man film crew. Chu Ishikawa, as usual, does the soundtrack and what a soundtrack it is, as percussive industrial music hits you like a jackhammer in some of the more dark scenes. While a gentler, more depressing, yet nevertheless more optimistic tune is composed for the film's ending scene. Beyond all the horror of death, beyond all the disturbing scenes of violence, beyond the sociopathic behavior, "Bullet Ballet" shines with its search for humanity at the darkest places, at the darkest moments, at the darkest times.

MARIO GAUCI This is my third film from this director, following the two TETSUO efforts; he seems to have quite a following, but I haven’t been impressed with what I’ve seen so far – on the contrary, the combination of flashy style and intense approach resulted not only in being off-putting but, for this viewer, it provoked boredom more than anything else! Anyway, while in those two earlier films, the visceral tone and unrelenting bleakness could perhaps be excused given their sci-fi/body-horror plot lines, these come off as mere hollow gestures in the juvenile delinquent milieu depicted here! The plot, if so it can be called, concerns a middle-aged man (played by the director himself!) who, in trying to come to terms with his fiancée’s baffling suicide, frantically tries to obtain a similar weapon (presumably in order to join her in the afterlife). However, during his nightly rounds of the city’s back streets, he runs into a gang of small-time (read: low-life) thugs who rough him up – so, he then finds a new purpose for his gun! Still, through his ambivalent relationship with a sluttish and tomboyish girl in the group, he’s drawn into open warfare between clans – and even intercedes for them when a hit-man turns up to exterminate them at their hide-out! While such a narrative could have spelt considerable visual excitement and even thematic depth, the grungy feel of it all (the ugly black-and-white cinematography of an industrial wasteland setting – which can now be seen as typical Tsukamoto - rapid cutting, noisy soundtrack) plus the obnoxious characters prevents audience engagement for practically the entire duration (not that the ostensible bond between the hero and the girl is handled satisfactorily, or in any way comprehensively): mercifully, the thing lasts for just a little over 80 minutes! Finally, I have to say that, while I’m generally a devoted fan of Japanese cinema, there are certain elements inherent in the Oriental outlook (usually having to do with nihilistic violence and/or mundane melodrama), which I haven’t been able to get into, no matter how hard I try…

Henry Fields There's a feeling you get after watching "Bullet Ballet", and it's like the story is kind of incomplete. There's a lack of something, maybe a little information about the characters and their lives. That's a big burden and it doesn't matter how attractive is the look of the film with all those nebulous textures, it does not matter if Tsukamoto probes that he knows how to use the camera (although sometimes everything looks a little bit dizzy), 'cause if you don't have a story or a script, you got nothing.It's a short movie and still you feel like it will never end. That's what it happens when you don't have a clue about what's going on in the screen (shoots, gangs, suicide... ???).*My rate: 4/10

CelluloidRehab Shinya Tsukamoto (the director) takes up the lead role, Goda. Goda seems to be your average guy. On the way home he listens to his girlfriend sing on the phone to him. Life is good. As soon as he gets home, he finds out that his girlfriend shot herself in their apartment. Depressions sets in. He wants to know why. He doesn't understand why she did it ? Who gave her the gun ??Goda is a pretty successful commercial director, who seems (to others like his friend and coworkers) to be dealing with the loss quite well. It is even mentioned that he has not even taken one day off. From there he spirals into this underworld search for the reason his girlfriend killed herself and a gun. He is runs into Chisato (leather clad mannequin-like woman wishing to die, it seems) and the bait is taken. He is beaten up and his money taken, yet he continues to follow Chisato and her gang. The funniest aspect of the movie is Goda's attempt to get a gun. He is rejected by most dealers (who are mostly gaijin and are selling only drugs) and is even sold a water gun filled with sand. He follows this with an equally funny series where he orders gun parts and assembles his own gun, complete with bullets. The funny part is when he actually tries to use the gun.Shinya Tsukamoto continues the visual style that we are used to seeing from him. This movie is black and white and is quite industrial looking. There is some action (which is usually pretty graphic), but that is only the vehicle for the "story". I had heard a lot about this movie, and had seen 4 of the director's previous movies (Tetsuo, Snake of June, Gemini and Tokyo Fist). I was quite bored and disappointed with the movie. The director does a pretty good job at playing Goda, however, the rest of the cast is a little cardboard. I think there is suppose to be a unconventional love story in there (Chungking Express on acid), however, its quite flat, not to mention that the actress playing Chisato is quite annoying. I think getting someone straight off the street would have done a better job. I have seen other avant-garde movies, some which made less sense than this movie, however, they were more interesting visually and/or conceptually. I think the Tetsuo length would have been more appropriate for this movie (namely 60 minutes instead of 90). I would not recommend this movie. If you want to see a good Shinya Tsukamoto movie, go see Tokyo Fist. If you want to see an avant-garde Shinya Tsukamoto movie, go see Tetsuo or Snake of June.