this be an astonishing film . minimal and avoid any kind of romanticism to take the edge off the violence and it push and pull you several way at once . you want to identify with the protagonist and his henchman and and they can often be amusingly human and but they be also so emotionless and cold blood and even concern their own and that it give you the chill . you always have the sense of a sophisticated eye in the shot and a if kurosawa be look over the director shoulder . it be an absolutely beautiful work . takeshi kitano be a master of the close shot . it seem that almost every moment of violence occurs when the antagonist be within arm length and even when it be with gun . the showdown in a crowded elevator be a masterpiece of tension mixed with cool hipness . on top of all of this and there be a powerful allegorical subtext about pivot point in life and the necessity of choice . why aren not more people in the u talk about this film .