“Sonatine” is often mentioned as the quintessential Japanese mob film, but it’s quite the opposite. It’s an incredibly slow-paced, contemplative, weirdly edited film with little action, some old man jokes, and tons of escapist slice-of-life sequences. However, it definitely has its own unique mood that makes it worth watching.

Murakawa (Kitano) and friends are sent on a suicide mission to Okinawa, and spend their days drinking and playing games at their idyllic seaside hideout. We are shown how cold-blooded killers waiting for their inevitable fate to happen are unknowingly embarking on an internal journey to win back their long-lost humanity and innocence. The film lies the ground for psychological, character-centered cinema, but unfortunately, that’s not really the case. The characters are shown doing all kinds of things, but we are rarely taught anything about them. That’s why when they are eventually killed, it’s hard to feel anything at all. Maybe that was the whole point: to get into the same state of apathy as Murakawa?