A few days after the suicide of his companion, Goda crosses in an alley Chisato, a girl whom he had met and saved not long before, while she was trying to throw herself under a train. But the latter, screaming at rape, the advertiser finds himself face to face with Goto and his gang. Assaulted and robbed, he is summoned by them to bring back all his money the next time. At the end of his rope, Goda decides to buy a weapon. But during the transaction, he does not notice that the weapon in question is just a simple water pistol. He then resolves to mount his own revolver with pieces of metal. He has only one obsession: to kill.
Bullet Ballet was first shown at the 55th Venice International Film Festival in September 1998.[2] After the première, Tsukamoto decided to re-edit Bullet Ballet.[3] After the Venice premiere, the Japanese company There's Enterprise offered to distribute the film in Japan.[3] As Tsukamoto was busy with other festivals and developing his new film Gemini, he had to wait until Gemini was complete before finishing re-editing Bullet Ballet for the Japanese release.[3] It was released in Japan on March 11, 2000.[3][1]
Variety gave the film a negative review, stating that "some may respond to the new thriller’s brooding B&W visuals and its spasmodic bursts of hammering violence, most followers of the director will see it merely as more of the same."[5]Time Out gave the film a negative review, describing the film as "aggro art, intense, gut-felt - but also, like all Tsukamoto's work, numbingly over-stretched."[6]
^ abHowell, Peter (July 8, 1998). "23rd film festival more contemporary". Toronto Star. Torstar Syndication Services, a Division of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. ISSN0319-0781.
