Japan. Dionnet had an agreement with the Shochiku arguing that the French audience did not know Kitano's career and would accept his violent character more easily. He bought Sonatine and three additional Kitano films, Violent Cop, Boiling Point and the latest, Kids Return. With the exception of Kids Return, all had performed poorly in Japan. In 1995, Sonatine entered the 13th Festival du Film Policier de Cognac in France, where it was critically acclaimed. Sonatine, followed by the three other films were broadcast on the French channel Canal+ a few months later. Then a couple of years later on the Franco-German public channel Arte. A video release followed, including a DVD edition available in Dionnet's collection "Asian Classics". As soon as 1995, Takeshi Kitano played the role of a yakuza in American director Robert Longo's SF thriller, Johnny Mnemonic. In North America Sonatine was released in theaters in April 1998 and Quentin Tarantino released a subtitled video edition in 2000 as part of his Rolling Thunder Pictures collection. The same year, Kitano was convinced by his producer to go in the United States where he filmed his first (and last) film outside Japan. Brother was shot in Los Angeles with an American crew and local actors including Omar Epps. In an interview, Kitano admitted he was not fully satisfied with the final result of Brother and that he regretted his "Hollywood" adventure which was supposed to bring him a broader audience with a higher exposure. Kitano confessed he had no intention of shooting outside Japan any more. Awards Sonatine won the Cariddi D'oro award for Best Film at the 1993 Taormina Film Fest. Aya Kokumai received the Best New Encouragement award at the 3rd Japan Film Professional Awards for her performance. The film's soundtrack won the Japanese Academy Award for Music in 1994. In 1995, it was awarded Critic's Choice at the Festival du Film Policier de Cognac. References External links Sonatine at Rotten Tomatoes 1993 films Japanese crime drama films 1990s crime drama films Films directed by Takeshi Kitano Japanese neo-noir films 1990s Japanese-language films Yakuza films Existentialist films Films set in Okinawa Prefecture Films scored by Joe Hisaishi 1993 drama films 1990s Japanese films