I was lucky to discover Kitano's famous style in the release of Sonatine and Hana-bi in a small movie theater in Paris. Well, I must say both movies convinced me Kitano is one of the greatest current movie directors.<br /><br />Sonatine is outstanding in various aspects. Its minimalism, either by the dialog scarcity, the remarkable ellipses, or the protagonist's blank face, convert the movie into a nearly pure cinematographic work, rather than a theater work adapted for the screen. The photography and camera motions can feel somewhat disturbing at the beginning, but this is only because they are unusual. Actually, they serve very well the movie, and the beach scenes are gorgeous. The music is another great score of the movie, it is original and perfectly fits the movie atmosphere when it is cast.<br /><br />Now, about the plot: I wish there were more movies with such a sense of humanity. The violence-calls-violence topic is not new, but here it is treated a very appealing way. Kitano managed to develop each character enough to make all of them interesting -- and the actors serve this purpose pretty well. The plot shows how human we are all, whatever we do or have done and even when we lately discover the whole value of life. This is an exemplary statement, far far away from high box-office movie standards.<br /><br />The redemption topic was then told again in Hana-bi, which managed to be an even greater movie. This is possibly the only reason I don't rate Sonatine a 10/10.