Boiling Point (1990 film)

Boiling Point
Directed by	Takeshi Kitano
Produced by	Hisao Nabeshima Takio Yoshida Masayuki Mori
Written by	Takeshi Kitano
Starring	Beat Takeshi Minoru Iizuka
Cinematography	Katsumi Yanagishima
Edited by	Takeshi Kitano Toshio Taniguchi
Distributed by	Shochiku-Fuji Bandai
Release dates	September 15, 1990 (1990-09-15)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Box office	US$1,471.00

Boiling Point, known in Japan as San tai Yon ekkusu Jugatsu (３－４Ｘ１０月, literally "3 to 4x October"), is a 1990 Japanese film written by, directed by, and co-starring Takeshi Kitano. It was his second film as director and first film as a screenwriter. While Boiling Point is regarded by some American online reviewers as one of the weaker efforts from "Beat" Takeshi, it is seen as an important first step in his development as an editor and as a director.

Plot outline

Ono Masahiko stars as a shiftless, inattentive young man, a member of a losing local baseball team, whose coach is threatened and attacked by a local yakuza. He teams up with a friend to go to Okinawa to purchase guns so they can get revenge. Kitano plays a psychotic yakuza member named Uehara, who befriends them upon their arrival in Okinawa. Uehara has his own agenda of revenge, and as the story progresses the two boys drift further into his orbit, with unsettling results.

Cast

• Takeshi Kitano - Uehara
• Yūrei Yanagi - Masaki
• Yuriko Ishida - Sayaka
• Gadarukanaru Taka - Takashi Iguchi
• Dankan - Kazuo
• Eri Fuse - Fumiyo

Production

Kitano's trademark black humor suffuses the film in many ways: at one point, the boy finally does get a gun, but shoots out the windshield of his girlfriend's car by mistake. The film also features comedian Iizuka Minoru, also known as Dankan, who went on to become a Kitano regular (Getting Any?) and Katsuo Tokashiki, who is famous for his kickboxing skills in Japan. He also played a guard in Takeshi Kitano's Takeshi's Castle in the 1980s.

The original title, 3-4X Jugatsu is the final score of a baseball game played in the film. "Jugatsu" (October) was added to the title, because the most exciting games of baseball, play-off games, are played in October.

External links

• Boiling Point at IMDb
• Boiling Point at AllMovie