More broadly, the sea’s symbolism as an impassable border is reminiscent of Kitano’s Two Beat routine, denouncing Japan’s closed social system while longing for escape. Kitano stars as Nishi, a former policeman forced to retire after a brutal incident that killed one colleague and paralysed another, who gets mixed up with yakuza loan sharks to pay for his terminally ill wife’s treatment. The film is also a deeply personal work for Kitano, whose wheelchair-bound colleague in the film takes up painting to remedy his depression – the works he produces were in fact by Kitano’s hand, as he recovered from similar mental health struggles following his motorbike accident. Aramaki (as 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano) Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (Video Game 2016) Toru Hirose (voice, as Beat Takeshi) Doctor X: Gekai Daimon Michiko Special (TV Movie 2016) Kantaro Kurosu (as Beat Takeshi) While the Women Are Sleeping (2016) Sahara Together with Sanma Akashiya and Tamori, Kitano is said to be one of the "Big Three" television comedians (owarai tarento) of Japan. Having grown up the youngest of four brothers, with an abusive father in a working-class area of Tokyo, Kitano idolised baseball players and local yakuza. He is tired of gangster life, and when he finds out the whole mission is a ruse, he welcomes what comes with open arms. In 2008, he did the voice-over in The Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit, for Take-Majin, a heroic monster based on Kitano. Kitano himself admitted he designed the film from the ground up to be a commercial crowd-pleaser, a goal that seems well within his reach as writer, director, editor, and supporting actor. In August 1994, Kitano was involved in a motorscooter accident and suffered injuries that caused partial paralysis of the right-side of his face. He has received critical acclaim for his idiosyncratic cinematic work, winning numerous awards with Japanese film critic Nagaharu Yodogawa having once dubbed him "the true successor" to influential filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. Among his most significant acting roles were Nagisa Oshima's 1999 film Taboo, in which he played Captain Hijikata Toshizo of the Shinsengumi. Shot in Los Angeles, it starred Kitano as a deposed and exiled Tokyo yakuza setting up a drug empire in Los Angeles with the aid of a local gangster played by Omar Epps. (Minna Yatteruka! “The yakuza were always very good to us kids,” he said in a 2008 interview. ... and volatile yakuza Uehara, the latter played by Kitano himself. [25] In March 2010 Kitano was named a Commander of the Order of the Arts and Letters of France.[26]. Then came the dream-like existentialism of, (1993), key examples of Kitano’s symbolic use of water as representing femininity and liminal spaces. In 2008, at the 30th Moscow International Film Festival, Kitano was given the Lifetime Achievement Award. It follows a deaf garbage collector who is determined to learn how to surf after discovering a broken surfboard. Kikujiro, released in 1999 and named after his father, was a semi-comedy featuring Kitano as a ne'er-do-well crook who winds up paired up with a young boy looking for his mother, and goes on a series of misadventures with him. "Beat" Takeshi Kitano is widely considered to be Japan's foremost media personality. He was not widely accepted as an accomplished director in Japan until Hana-bi won the Golden Lion in 1997. Western audiences might already be familiar with Kitano through. [15] A room in the basement played a 12-hour loop of his work as a TV host. Kitano played a similarly named character in the 2000 controversial Japanese blockbuster Battle Royale, which takes place in a future in which a group of teenagers are randomly selected each year to eliminate each other on a deserted island. “Brother” is Kitano’s first and last movie filmed outside of Japan. The targets of his jokes were often the socially vulnerable, including the elderly, the handicapped, the poor, children, women, the ugly and the stupid. I'm looking forward to see how the movie turns out. Yakuza mayhem à la Takeshi Kitano 30 March 2011 | by Simonster – See all my reviews Viewed at the Festival du Film, Cannes 2010 Takeshi Kitano's return to his familiar stamping ground, the Yakuza, their intrigues, vendettas and highly inventive ways of inflicting extreme unpleasantness on one another, was given less than a stellar welcome by critics at the Festival. Beginning and ending with abrupt flashes of violence, the film’s entire middle is devoted to yakuza at play. Takeshi Kitano, noto anche con lo pseudonimo di Beat Takeshi (北野 武 Kitano Takeshi? [14] Dolls in 2002 had Kitano directing but not starring in a romantic drama with three different stories about undying love, and was loosely based on a bunraku play. [3] Kitano said that he was happy with his performance and snuck into a showing of the film to see how the audience would accept him as a serious actor instead of a comedian. Kitano confirmed in a video interview that he was forbidden to access the NHK studios for five years for having exposed his body during a show when it was totally forbidden.[7]. Takeshi Kitano, HERO DAILIES: Essential culture, curated daily, Still, Kikujiro (1999) dir. The first Kitano film to be released in the US. That experience equipped him for what was to follow: arguably the best collection of Japanese films since Akira Kurosawa’s samurai epics of the 50s. With the exception of his works as a film director, he is known almost exclusively by the stage name Beat Takeshi (ビートたけし, Bīto Takeshi). With titles such as Sonatine (1993), Hana-bi (1997) and Brother (2000), Takeshi Kitano represented the ultimate actor-writer-director package. Takeshi Kitano est le plus jeune des quatre enfants de Kikujirō et de Saki Kitano. He was devastated when the audience burst into laughter upon his appearing on screen, but vowed to stick to serious and dark characters in film.[4][9]. Kitano's 2010 film Outrage was screened at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. Office Kitano (株式会社オフィス北野, Kabushiki-Gaisha Ofisu Kitano) is a Japanese talent management and film production company founded and managed by Takeshi Kitano. Although Two Beat was one of the most successful acts of its kind during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Kitano decided to go solo and the duo was dissolved. Director Takeshi Kitano (aka Beat Takeshi) has been involved in Japanese cinema forever. He is also an extremely capable infiltrator, being able to s… Bodies pile up as he takes out everyone in his way to the top in a brutal quest for revenge. This wildly successful weekly TV slot earned Kitano the moniker of Beat Takeshi (by which he is most commonly known), a kind of loud-mouthed renegade that Kitano would return to as an actor, comedian and TV personality. Kitano revealed that he was approached by others to create the film and therefore differed from his own techniques and followed the common filmmaking process in order to please them and make a pure-entertainment film.[9]. [10] He has also published a number of novels and other books which have been translated into French. (1994), Kids Return (1996) and his crowning success, Hana-bi (1997), the film that transformed Kitano from part-time comedian into a globally renowned auteur, winning him the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival. [18] He also appeared in Yasuo Furuhata's 2012 film, Dearest. That experience equipped him for what was to follow: arguably the best collection of Japanese films since Akira Kurosawa’s samurai epics of the 50s. From action legend Takeshi Kitano. Brother is a 2000 gangster film starring, written, directed, and edited by Takeshi Kitano. I've run out of Yakuza games so I've been watching yakuza movies, including some written and directed by and starring Hirose's voice actor Takeshi Kitano - Boiling Point (1990), Sonatine (1993), Hana Bi (1997) and Outrage Coda (2017). When a tough yakuza gangster is betrayed by his bosses, it means all out war. Kitano laid the conceptual groundwork for Hana-bi years previously, with an equally potent blend of beauty and brutality in Sonatine. , the widely exported Japanese game show in which contestants were sent sprawling over obstacles by the titular (and at times, sadistic) Count, played by Kitano. Coastal tranquility once more offers a refuge from the crime-riddled dreariness of Tokyo and again Kitano stars in a violent role, this time as a merciless yet jaded yakuza gangster, sent to the beach at Okinawa to resolve a dispute between two warring clans. How Takeshi Kitano went from comedian to crime auteur. Everyone has something to gain from other's misfortune. . However, the film met with tepid international response. TV Tackle is a kind of panel discussion among entertainers and politicians regarding controversial current events. [20] On 7 March 2013, Minkei News of Hong Kong reported that Kitano won the Best Director award for Outrage Beyond at the 7th Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong. Kitano said that after playing comedy clubs he would be invited to drink with yakuza, who would tell him stories about the big crime bosses. [23] Although he has expressed his dislike of anime and manga in the past, he accepted the role because "even though this stylish piece of entertainment is totally different from the films I've directed, I thought it was interesting that Aramaki, the role I play, is a character who gives off a peculiar vibe and, in various episodes, is set at the core of the characters' relationships. All four of his films were screened at the 1994 London Film Festival. Much of the film satirizes popular Japanese culture, such as Ultraman or Godzilla and even the Zatoichi character that Kitano himself would go on to play eight years later. Kitano's film, Takeshis' was released in Japan in November 2005, as the first installment in his surrealist autobiographical series. His 2000 film Brother was deliberately intended to be a hit abroad. The first Kitano film to be released in the US, Hana-bi demonstrates the director’s deft handling of tenderness and pain, juxtaposing not just violence and affection, but serenity and chaos through the split setting of downtown Tokyo and the beach. Standup comedy icon or visionary film director? He went to the Asakusa district in 1972 to become a comedian. Although 1993's Sonatine did poorly in Japan, it received rave reviews in Europe when it was shown at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. . For many they were baseball players, but for filmmaker Takeshi Kitano it was the local yakuza who were simply much cooler. These are the perplexing and seemingly contradictory dualities that define Takeshi Kitano, a mainstay of Japanese entertainment over the past 50 years whose tangled enigma is laid bare in a succession of excellent films he directed, wrote and starred in during the 90s. In 2007 he appeared in Dots and Lines (a TV mini-series) as Jūtarō Torikai. They took on the stage names Beat Takeshi and Beat Kiyoshi; together referring to themselves as Two Beat (ツービート, Tsū Bīto, sometimes romanized as "The Two Beats"). Despite this, he's also a professional assassin and particularly skillful with knives and fights practically in battle. After his motorscooter accident, Kitano took up painting. ; Tokyo, 18 gennaio 1947), è un attore, regista, sceneggiatore, montatore, produttore cinematografico, conduttore televisivo, autore televisivo, conduttore radiofonico, comico, scrittore, pittore, cantante e autore di videogiochi giapponese. Kitano was born into a working-class family in Tokyo. CANNES -- As violent, amoral and misanthropic as a Jacobean play, Outrage is Takeshi Kitano's first yakuza flick since Brother (2000), and arguably his best film in a decade. Takeshi Kitano was born in Adachi, Tokyo, with two older brothers and an older sister. Sandwiched between a brutal opening and equally grim ending, the film’s most arresting feature are the dream-like beach scenes, where Kitano and his men pass the days playing games in the sand (albeit ones with a violent undertone). It's a slow burn with intrigue, double crosses, brutal, but quick violence, and an underlying sadness. For other uses, see, Kitano quoted in Lee Server, Asian Pop Cinema, op. ), which was filmed before the accident, showed Kitano returning to his comedy roots. combines beautifully crafted shots, non-linear cuts (Kitano edited all his films) and shattering moments of brutality. Then came the dream-like existentialism of A Scene at the Sea (1991) and Sonatine (1993), key examples of Kitano’s symbolic use of water as representing femininity and liminal spaces. Another of his shows is Sekai Marumie TV ("The World Exposed"), a weekly collection of various interesting video clips from around the world, often focusing on the weird aspects of other countries. His films are, in the main, male-orientated spectacles of violence, interspersed with fleeting moments of lightness and contemplative calm often carried by his female characters. Kids Return (キッズ・リターン, Kizzu Ritān) is a 1996 Japanese film written, edited and directed by Takeshi Kitano.The film was made directly after Kitano recovered from a motorcycle wreck that left one side of his body paralyzed.After undergoing extensive surgery and physical therapy, he quickly went about making Kids Return amidst speculation that he might never be able to work again. After scheduling conflicts presented the opportunity, Kitano rode it for all its worth, not just directing and starring in the film but writing it, too. While he is known primarily as a comedian and TV host in his native Japan, abroad he is better known for his work as a filmmaker. [5] Kitano plays a Tokyo yakuza who is sent by his boss to Okinawa to help end a gang war there. Takeshi Kitano, Any attempt to unpick this gordian knot must begin some twenty years before Kitano achieved international success, when he was one half of stand-up duo Two Beat, a titillating and iconoclastic. In 1976, they performed on television for the first time and became a success, propelling their act onto the national stage. Complaints to the broadcaster led to censorship of some of Kitano's jokes and the editing of offensive dialogue. Takeshi Kitano, Still, Hana-bi (1997) dir. In between these films, Kitano appeared in a number of other television projects and smaller projects. In 1988, he published a memoir, Asakusa Kid. [2] Many of Kitano's films are dramas about yakuza gangsters or the police. After a few acting roles, including one alongside David Bowie in Nagisa Oshima’s, (1983), things really took off in 1989 when Kitano inadvertently scored his directorial debut with. [4] His first major film role in Nagisa Oshima's Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (cast as a tough POW camp sergeant during World War II opposite Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Bowie). Takeshi's Castle was a game show hosted by Kitano in the 1980s, featuring slapstick-style physical contests. The 1995 release of Getting Any? Kitano had also become a popular television host. This sort of duo comedy, known as manzai in Japan, usually features a great deal of high-speed back-and-forth banter between the two performers. During the 1990s, the face of Japanese cinema projected internationally was almost entirely that of one man. 2003's Zatōichi, directed by and starring Kitano, silenced many of these dissenters. Available in a range of colours and styles for men, women, and everyone. Current affairs pundit or blood-lusting hitman? After a few acting roles, including one alongside David Bowie in Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), things really took off in 1989 when Kitano inadvertently scored his directorial debut with Violent Cop. [16] He admitted he tried something different for Outrage by adding a lot of dialogue, stepping back as the main character to make an ensemble piece, and having the feel of a nature documentary watching the characters kill each other. Besides hosting TV and radio shows in Japan, Kitano has also published books, created video games, and even … Takeshi Kitano (北野武, Kitano Takeshi) conosciuto anche come Beat Takeshi (ビートたけし, Bīto Takeshi) o meglio ancora come "quello nei film sulla Yakuza con la faccia storta", è un regista, sceneggiatore, attore, montatore[1], scrittore, pittore[2], presentatore e autore televisivo giapponese. [4] In his working-class neighborhood, the children looked up to baseball players and yakuza, with many of his neighbors being the latter. Beginning with Boiling Point (1990), Kitano combined his boyhood obsessions of baseball and yakuza, starring as a violent mobster from a depraved world with his sense of humour still intact. Hirose is a jovial senior and takes things in a laid-back fashion. That year Kitano also appeared in the film adaptation of William Gibson's 1995 Johnny Mnemonic, credited by the mononym "Takeshi",[13] although his on-screen time was greatly reduced for the American cut of the film. cit., p. 82 or see also. No one can be trusted. After a serious motorbike accident – referred to by Kitano as an “unconscious suicide attempt” – came Getting Any? "[citation needed]. Beat Kiyoshi has a bit part in Kitano's 1999 film Kikujiro, as "Man at the Bus Stop". "[24], In 2017, Kitano released the third and final installment in the successful Outrage series titled Outrage Coda. Takeshi Kitano (北野 武, Kitano Takeshi, born 18 January 1947) is a Japanese comedian, television presenter, actor, filmmaker, and author. which was a Japanese TV show that was broadcast weekly from 1998 to 2002, a talk show on which a large panel of Japanese-speaking foreigners from around the world debate current issues in Japanese society. [5][6], In the 1970s, he formed a comedy duo with his friend Nirō Kaneko (also called Kiyoshi Kaneko). With a new take on the character from Shintaro Katsu's long-running film and TV series, Zatōichi was Kitano's biggest box office success in Japan,[14] did quite well in limited release across the world, and won countless awards at home and abroad, including the Silver Lion award at the Venice Film Festival. Like so many of Kitano’s films that feature the beach, Brandon Flynn cover of The HERO Winter Annual 2017. While the majority of Kitano’s eleven films present striking style moments, here we take a look at Sonatine, Hana-bi and Dolls. Like so many of Kitano’s films, Hana-bi combines beautifully crafted shots, non-linear cuts (Kitano edited all his films) and shattering moments of brutality. After scheduling conflicts presented the opportunity, Kitano rode it for all its worth, not just directing and starring in the film but writing it, too. Orchestrated 'Outrage' Among Kitano's Yakuza Takeshi Kitano returns to the gangster genre with this elaborately plotted tale about a gruesome grudge match among rival clans. His paintings were featured prominently in his most critically acclaimed film, 1997's Hana-bi. Acclaimed movie director Takeshi Kitano will be appearing in the upcoming game Yakuza 6 and while he definitely looks the part, it's surprising that this didn't happen sooner. At 64, he shows no signs of slowing down. This nurtured a defiant attitude and familiarity with violence that would colour his cinematographic language. The film premiered on September 7, 2000 at the Venice Film Festival.The plot centers on a mature Yakuza gangster who has to flee to Los Angeles, where he unites forces with his … [1], Kitano won the Golden Lion award at the 54th Venice International Film Festival in 1997 for his film Hana-bi. As reported by Dan Edwards, Kitano later said that the accident was an "unconscious suicide attempt". “They would give us allowance money, buy us candy, and things like that. It launched the Tokyo Filmex in 2000.