I love a tough as nails gangster film as much as the next guy, but Brother is anything but your typical gangster flick. Usually, I would consider that a good thing; Brother just doesn't work though. Takeshi Kitano is a boring actor who has the charisma of pavement. There are too many long takes that hurt the narrative of the film. For example, there are a few scenes where the camera will stop and just observe; like when the audience is made to watch some gangsters play basketball for five minutes. Huge action scenes are not even shown -- although the film is graphically violent.
This film could have been great, but it went too far out of its way to be stylistic, and in the end it just doesn't get the job done.
This film could have been great, but it went too far out of its way to be stylistic, and in the end it just doesn't get the job done.