An acrylic painting on wood panel, titled 'Sonatine', of a young woman in a patterned dress blowing up while holding a lit roman candle.

Sonatine

(1993, Takeshi Kitano)

Welcome to the Fireworks Girls! Sonatine is THE movie that inspired this whole painting series. This is a fantastic movie and a unique take on the yakuza genre, directed by and starring Takeshi Kitano. I love his use of static camera angle during intense gun fights. Towards the end of the movie there is a scene where Aya Kokumai is firing off a roman candle by herself. I was so struck by this shot that I took the opportunity to paint it. The final painting is not that great but I used it as a template for each new film I saw: scene with a girl from the movie -> roman candle -> no pants.


A screenshot of a yakuza man Murakawa (played by Takeshi Kitano), happily shooting himself in the head. From the film 'Sonatine'. An animated gif of a scene from Takeshi Kitano's film 'Sonatine' of a woman shooting an automatic rifle with a yakuza man standing next to her. A screenshot from the movie 'Sonatine' of a fireworks fight on the beach at night.

© 1993 - Shouchiku Daichii Kougyo