About

Nishi (Takeshi Kitano) is a broken man haunted by the presence of death in both his work and personal life. A hardened policeman, he replays the trauma of a gunfight which his officers were killed and his colleague Horibe confined to a wheelchair. Off duty he cares for his dying wife. The deceptively simple sequences between Nishi and his wife are suffused with a heart-rending melancholy as both try to negotiate their relationship amid the unspoken spectre of her approaching death. Fireworks is a delicate balance of tenderness and Kitano's characteristic nihilism that brought the actor-director to international prominence. Fireworks received the Golden Lion at the 1997 Venice Film Festival.