Boiling Point / B2 / Japan

04.06.14

PosterPosterPoster
Title
Boiling Point
AKA
3-4 x jûgatsu [The Third and Fourth of October] (Japan - original title)
Year of Film
1990
Director
Takeshi Kitano
Starring
Takeshi Kitano, Yûrei Yanagi, Yuriko Ishida, Gadarukanaru Taka, Dankan, Eri Fuse, Makoto Ashikawa, Hiroshi Suzuki
Origin of Film
Japan
Genre(s) of Film
Action | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Thriller
Type of Poster
B2
Style of Poster
--
Origin of Poster
Japan
Year of Poster
1990
Designer
Unknown
Artist
--
Size (inches)
20 6/16" x 28 13/16"
SS or DS
SS
Tagline
--

Boiling Point was Japanese legend Takeshi Kitano‘s second film as director and his first as screenwriter and shouldn’t be confused with the Wesley Snipes clunker of the same name that was released in the UK around the same time. As with many of Kitano’s directorial efforts the film features Yakuzas as a prominent story element. Yûrei Yanagi (AKA Masahiko Ono) stars as Masaki, a feckless loser stuck in a dead-end job at a gas station who also plays (badly) for a local baseball team.

One day the coach of the team is attacked and almost killed by yakuza thugs following a confrontation in which Masaki is threatened by the same gangsters. He decides to head to Okinawa to meet a contact who can supply him with a gun in order to take revenge. This contact happens to be the psychotic Uehara (Kitano himself in an extended cameo) an unpredictable, dangerous yakuza who also wants revenge against the same gang. Masaki is taken under Uehara’s wing, leading to violent and surprising encounters in the Okinawa underworld.

Kitano’s character is thoroughly unlikeable and most of his actions are reprehensible in the extreme. Following on from the critical and commercial success of Violent Cop, audience and critical reaction wasn’t quite as favourable to Boiling Point and today its often said to be one of his lesser films, if not still a must watch for fans of the actor-director.

This striking B2 poster features the simple image of a metal baseball bat on a blue-green background. The Japanese title translates as ‘3-4, October’ and relates to the score of a baseball match seen in the film and the month of October, an important one in the Japanese baseball calendar.

Check out the other posters featuring Takeshi Kitano in the Film on Paper collection by clicking here.

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