Hana-Bi  (1998)
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Also Known As: Fireworks
Starring: Takeshi Kitano, Kayoko Kishimoto, Ren Oosugi
Director:Takeshi Kitano
Genre:Action, Drama, Romance
Production:Bandai Visual, Nippon Herald Films, Office Kitano, Tokyo FM Broadcasting Company, Television Tokyo
Language:Japanese
Country:Japan

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About Hana-Bi
Detective Nishi is bitter when he learns that his wife Miyuki is terminally ill and his partner Horibe was shot and now tied to a wheelchair. Horibe wants to become a painter, but doesn't have money for that. To help him and a young police widow whose husband was shot dead during an arrest, he borrows money from yakuza. After that he buys an old car, paints it as a police car, and, dressed in uniform, singlehandedly robs a bank. With the money he goes on a final farewell journey together with his wife.
Detective Nishi (Beat Takeshi) of the Metropolitan Police visited his hospitalized wife instead of accompanying his long time friend and partner Horibe (Ren Osugi) on a stakeout. While at the hospital, Nishi received the news that Horibe had been shot. A few hours later, Detective Tanaka was gunned down by the same man who shot Horibe.

Although Horibe survived, he is confined to a wheelchair for life. With him unable to provide for them, Horibe's wife abandons him taking their daughter with her. Nishi is haunted by the violent events that effected the lives of those around him, and has since quitted the police force. Visiting Horibe who now lives by the sea, Nishi learns that the man is thinking of taking up painting, but is hesitant, because it's an expensive hobby. Guilt-ridden, he borrows money from a yakuza loan shark to buy painting material for Horibe and give financial aid to Tanaka's widow.

Learning that Miyuki's time is limited, Nishi takes the doctor's advice and takes her home so he may be able to spend the remaining days with her. In the meantime, he finds a stolen taxi in a scrapyard. Repainting the car, and dressing in his police officer's uniform, he successfully pulls a bank heist. Returning home, Nishi takes Miyuki on a van and set out on a carefree trip.

On the day of the graduation, Shinji finally reunited with Masaru at the school bicycle park. In a bright red gym suit, Masaru demonstrated a bit of shadow boxing. Riding his bicycle next to Masaru as he continued his road work, Shinji, too, joined the boxing gym without much thought.
The next day, money is delivered to Horibe, Tanaka's widow and the yakuza loan shark.

During their travels, Nishi is tender and playful with his wife, who soon regains her cheerfulness. While Nishi and his wife indulge in fun and mischief as if to push aside all thoughts of death, Horibe is enlightened to artistic endeavor and the will to live on. Nishi and Miyuki's days of peace and tranquillity are disrupted by the arrival of the yakuza loan shark and his thugs...

The Japanese word hana-bi, made up of the characters hana (meaning flower) and bi (or hi for means fire), literally means fireworks. Spelt with a hyphen, Kitano intends the two characters to symbolize the themes in his film: flower for life and fire for death.

The paintings which appear in HANA-BI ( and this press booklet) were created purposely for the film by Takeshi Kitano.