“Boiling Point” (３－４Ｘ１０月), Original Release Japanese Movie Poster 1990, B2 Size (51 × 73 cm) Q217

This is an original Japanese B2 theatrical poster printed in 1990 for the first release of Boiling Point (３－４Ｘ１０月, San tai Yon ekkusu Jūgatsu), the second feature film directed by Takeshi Kitano, following his debut Violent Cop.

Released in Japan under its striking original title ３－４Ｘ１０月, and known internationally as Boiling Point, the film was produced by Kazuyoshi Okuyama and distributed by Shochiku Fuji. It is one of the key early works in Kitano’s career and an important title in the development of his cool, elliptical, deadpan cinematic language.

Film background
Boiling Point is an early and highly distinctive Takeshi Kitano crime film: part absurdist comedy, part yakuza drama, and part portrait of youthful aimlessness. The story follows Masaki, an amateur baseball player and gas-station worker whose minor altercation with a local gangster spirals into serious violence. When an attempt at intervention by his former-yakuza coach ends badly, Masaki and a friend travel to Okinawa in search of a gun, only to become entangled with the terrifying and wildly unstable gangster Uehara, played memorably by Kitano himself.

The film is now regarded as one of the most important titles from Kitano’s early period, showing his emerging fascination with sudden eruptions of violence, blank humour, awkward pauses, and the strange overlap between banality and menace.

Poster design
This is one of the most graphically arresting Japanese posters of the period. The design is minimalist, stark, and highly conceptual, dominated by a single metal baseball bat placed vertically at the centre of a deep green field. The bat immediately evokes the film’s strange collision of local baseball culture and eruptive criminal violence.

At the top left and right, large white brush-style Japanese lettering reads:

軍団、野放し！
This can be understood as “The Gundan unleashed!” — a direct promotional reference to Takeshi Gundan, Kitano’s own comedy troupe and entourage, many of whom appear in the cast.

The title ３－４Ｘ１０月 appears boldly across the lower centre in large geometric white type, with additional credits beneath and a full vertical English credit block at lower right. The contrast between the severe central object, the spacious negative field, and the energetic Japanese brush text gives the poster a powerful, modern visual identity. It is an exceptionally effective design: austere, slightly cryptic, and unmistakably Japanese.

About the title
The unusual title ３－４Ｘ１０月 has long intrigued collectors and viewers. It is commonly understood as a baseball-derived notation combined with October, the month of the film’s release planning. That connection makes the central bat motif especially apt and ties the design directly to the film’s themes of frustrated masculinity, sport, chance, and violence.

Collector significance
Original first-release Japanese posters for early Takeshi Kitano films are increasingly sought after, particularly for the director’s formative works from the late 1980s and early 1990s. This B2 first-release poster is especially desirable because it features a unique country-of-origin design rather than a generic photographic montage. Its bold conceptual approach makes it one of the strongest visual posters associated with Kitano’s early filmography.

For collectors of Japanese cinema, Beat Takeshi, yakuza films, and 1990s minimalist poster design, this is an important and highly displayable original.

Condition
Very good vintage condition overall, with signs of age and handling consistent with an original theatrical poster of the period. Please review the photos carefully; they show the exact poster for sale.

There is a scratch on the surface of the poster on the right hand side below the white kanji text - we have taken the condition into account when pricing.

The poster displays very well and retains strong visual impact.

This is an original Japanese theatrical poster from the film’s 1990 first-release campaign.
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.

It is over 35 years old!

Certificate of Authenticity included.