Blood and Bones

Pretty much a one-note film, centred on Kitano’s forceful central turn as the Korean who, having immigrated to Osaka and found it tough, takes out his frustration and machismo on his family. There are, certainly, some themes to this relentlessly grim, brutal movie – the infectious legacy of violence, the relationship between social inequality and private behaviour – and Kitano inflects his character with whatever subtle nuance is allowed (notably in the perverse tenderness sometimes extended  towards his afflicted mistress), but it’s so insistent in its miserabilism that it’s hard to remain caught up in the repetitive proceedings.