Licenciado Mxje

Bullet Ballet

Japanuary '26 #1.

BT1886

Bullet Ballet

An explosive, cathartic experience from the mind of Japanese actor/director Shinya Tsukamoto. This marks the third film of his I’ve had the pleasure of exploring (the other two being Kotoko and Tetsuo: The Iron Man), and it’s quite a doozy. Set against the stark backdrop of an urban-industrial Tokyo, BULLET BALLET is, at its core, a film about our desperate search for meaning in the face of disillusionment. Much like the character of Goda, we are invited to seek the transformative powers of pain — be it physical or emotional — and how trauma reshapes our very selves, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. It’s not uncommon to understand that much of Shinya Tsukamoto’s work will, for the most part, be left up for interpretation — BULLET BALLET not being an exception—but whereas many other filmmakers try and fail to capture that incendiary spark found in brutalist cinema, Tsukamoto excels. I can’t speak about the film without praising how it looks. Shot in beautifully harsh black and white, the film inherently emphasizes the dehumanization of its characters through violence and pain, all while the kinetic editing elevates it to something wholly unique, in ways only a Shinya Tsukamoto film can be. It may not be the easiest film to follow, nor will it be the best, but BULLET BALLET is a precise and clear example of the existential power film holds. It’s raw. It’s elusive. It’s a beautiful thing to behold.