FILM REVIEW; The Sadistic and Ruthless, Through a Ruthless Lens
By LAWRENCE VAN GELDER
JULY 16, 1999
As police officers go, the Japanese lawman who goes by the name Azuma Ryosuke makes Dirty Harry look like a poster boy for liberalism and forbearance.
So if there were an award for truth in titling, ''Violent Cop,'' the sharp, shocking, cynical account of his conflict with corruption, would surely be a contender -- if it were not a 10-year-old film.
''Violent Cop,'' opening today at Cinema Village, 22 East 12th Street, is being released here now because it was the first film by Takeshi (Beat) Kitano, the Japanese Renaissance man who is an actor, stand-up comic, director, film editor, painter, poet, essayist, journalist, author, television personality and tough guy who has won international renown in recent years for films like ''Hana-Bi'' (''Fireworks'') and ''Sonatine.''
Provocative and outspoken, he has told interviewers that he regards young people as fools, and he is a ruthless critic of Japan.
As if in illustration, ''Violent Cop,'' written by Hisashi Nozawa, begins with a casual, brutal nighttime assault by a group of adolescents on a homeless man. But it isn't long before Azuma appears on the doorstep of the fine home of one of these punks, talks his way past the boy's mother and goes upstairs and into the youngster's room. There he proceeds to punch, slap, kick and head-butt before leaving the bloodied boy with four words of advice: ''Give yourself up tomorrow.''
Azuma may not be a paragon of virtue. Among his lesser vices, he smokes, he drinks, he gambles, he borrows money, he's tight with a yen and he looks the other way when it suits him. But he is effective, and even his new chief is willing to tolerate his methods, up to a point.
As star of his own film, Mr. Kitano is a riveting figure, a slight, lithe, laconic character who commands the screen with his bleak vision of a corrupt world, his potential for explosive violence, his courage, his tolerance for pain and the understanding and love he shows for his mentally disturbed sister.
In ''Violent Cop,'' Azuma, partnered with an eager rookie, becomes part of an investigation of a drug-related murder. The trail will pit Azuma against a sadistic killer and his smooth overlord, bare the corruption of a friend and reduce Azuma's unstable sister to a victim of kidnapping, gang rape and narcotics addiction.
''Violent Cop'' is not for the squeamish. But for fans of unsentimental police action rooted in commentary on a society, ''Violent Cop'' packs a punch.
VIOLENT COP
Directed by Takeshi Kitano; written (in Japanese, with English subtitles) by Hisashi Nozawa; director of photography, Yasushi Sakakibara; edited by Nobutake Kamiya; music by Daisaku Kume; produced by Hisao Nabeshima, Takio Yoshida and Shozo Ichiyama; released by Winstar Cinema. At Cinema Village, 22 East 12th Street, Greenwich Village. Running time: 103 minutes. This film is not rated.
WITH: Takeshi Kitano (Azuma), Hakuryu (Nindo's Henchman), Maiko Kawakami (Akari), Shiro Sano (Police Chief Yoshinari), Shigeru Hiraizumi (Iwaki), Mikiko Otonashi (Iwaki's Wife) and Ittoku Kishibe (Nindo).
