wife on the beach. The couple comforts each other before the camera pans away towards the ocean before two gunshots are heard in the distance. Cast Takeshi Kitano as Yoshitaka Nishi Kayoko Kishimoto as Miyuki, Nishi's wife Ren Osugi as Horibe Susumu Terajima as Nakamura Tetsu Watanabe as Tesuka Hakuryu as Yakuza Hitman Yasuei Yakushiji as Criminal Taro Itsumi as Kudo Kenichi Yajima as Doctor Makoto Ashikawa as Tanaka Yūko Daike as Tanaka's widow Production Horibe takes up painting in the pointillist style in order to compensate for his paralysis. In reality, these paintings were painted by Kitano himself, whilst in recovery from an infamous motorcycle accident in August 1994 that left half of his face paralyzed. Kitano's daughter and former singer, Shoko Kitano, makes a cameo appearance playing a nameless girl flying a kite in the film's closing scenes. The film's title is sometimes listed as "Hana-bi", "hana-bi" or "Hanabi" on the covers of international DVD releases and other references to the film in the West. However, the official title is actually HANA-BI, fully capitalized, and is used on all Japanese licensed products, including theatrical posters, video covers and OST covers. Soundtrack The soundtrack CD was first released in 1998 and 1999 by Milan Records, then reissued by Polydor. Track listing All compositions by Joe Hisaishi. "Hana-bi" – 3:42 "Angel" – 2:41 "Sea of Blue" – 3:29 "...and Alone" – 2:29 "Ever Love" – 2:15 "Painters" – 5:57 "Smile and Smile" – 2:55 "Heaven's Gate" – 4:59 "Tenderness" – 2:31 "Thank You... for Everything" – 7:09 "Hana-bi (Reprise)" – 3:41 Credits Bassoon – Shinkichi Maeda Clarinet – Tadashi Hoshino Composer, arranger, performer – Joe Hisaishi Flute – Takashi Asahi, Takeshi Shinohara Harmonica – Nobuo Yagi Oboe – Hiroshi Shibayama Strings – Yuichiro Goto Group Reception Although it was not a big success financially, Hana-bi received critical acclaim and won the Golden Lion award at the 54th Venice International Film Festival and numerous other accolades. Kitano himself said it was not until he won the Golden Lion that he was accepted as a serious director in his native Japan; his prior films had been looked at as just the hobby of a famous comedian. It also won the Grand Prix of the Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 95% of 20 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 8.3