Takeshis'
Encyclopedia
Takeshis' is a 2005
Japanese film
directed, written, edited by, and starring Takeshi Kitano
. It is the first film in Kitano's surrealist
autobiographical
trilogy, being followed by Glory to the Filmmaker!
, and Achilles and the Tortoise
.
, suggesting the film's structure. The film has nested storylines and depicts 8½
-like identity crisis theme in autobiographical
style. It is also strongly characterised by a series of surrealistic motives linked by chance encounters.
A prominent theme of the film is duality, as almost all the main characters appear in two forms or roles. Although it is hard to lay one's finger on the interpretation of this film, it can be said that self actualization
is at least a major underlying theme.
The film opens with a nightmare vision. American soldiers
with carbines move down the fallen base filled up with bodies of Japanese combatants. One of dying combatants appears to be (Beat or Kitano) Takeshi. This opening scene is followed by the gun battle of a yakuza film
where one of the protagonists, 'Beat' Takeshi, plays the principal role. Flashback
s of this gun battle are frequently used throughout the film.
'Beat' Takeshi is a showbiz
star. He lives through business in film studio and TV stations where main casts appear in one of their dual roles (Takeshi's Girlfriend (Kotomi Kyono
), Takeshi's Manager (Ren Osugi
), and Takeshi's former partner of stand-up comedy
(Susumu Terajima
)).
The first appearance sequence of 'Beat' Takeshi also introduces some repetitive motives of Takeshis. (The caterpillar in a bouquet, a female impersonator of taishū engeki
(Taichi Saotome
), tap dancers in a rehearsal set, Akihiro Miwa
(a transvestite chanson
singer), a pair of fat twins, and dialogs at a ramen
restaurant repeated later in varied situations.)
Mr. Kitano, the other protagonist, appears in a clown costume among the guys in a wardrobe of TV station. Mr. Kitano is an everyman, obsessed with his appearance identical to 'Beat' Takeshi. When two Takeshis encounter for the first time, Mr. Kitano seeks his heartthrob charisma's autograph
. 'Beat' Takeshi gives the autograph to him ironically.
Kitano, earning a living as a convenience store
clerk, never gets ahead as an actor. He begins to fantasize himself as 'Beat' Takeshi in daydreams. Fragments of surreal dream crosses over into his life. We see bizarre things accompanied by dead bodies on the road while he is moonlighting as a taxi driver.
Kitano then happens to pick up a gun at a yakuza
quarrel. He shoots first his yakuza neighbor (Susumu Terajima
), and begins to kill people around his world. The film implies it is some kind of a dream, showing deceased guys appear again in blood and yell alive normally. Kitano takes out his female neighbor (Kotomi Kyono
) and commits a bank robbery
. Accomplishing his fantasies of acting like a movie star 'Beat' Takeshi, Kitano takes a journey into the absolutely bizarre, surreal world (an underground nightclub, night gun battles, and the catastrophe
at a Boiling Point-, or Sonatine
-like tropical island).
Cut suddenly back to Kitano's real life where he is still confused himself and 'Beat' Takeshi. He finds the movie star's autograph greeting, "Hello Mr. Clown!". It triggers 'Beat' Takeshi's assassination
by Mr. Kitano. Cut suddenly again back to a close-up of 'Beat' Takeshi, which implies all of the film might be a dream of 'Beat' Takeshi. The film ends with flashback images of an American Soldier and the gun battle of a yakuza film at the beginning.
and a work of considerable editorial complexity.
, while a tad dull as the movie star Takeshi's girlfriend, bears more than just costume jewellery sparkle in her ulterior role as a glitzy, ditsy yakuza girlfriend who happens to be the deadbeat Takeshi's tormenting neighbor."
Japanese films of 2005
A list of films released in Japan in 2005 .-2005:-External links:* at the Internet Movie Database...
Japanese film
Cinema of Japan
The has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world – as of 2009 the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. Movies have been produced in Japan since 1897, when the first foreign cameramen arrived...
directed, written, edited by, and starring Takeshi Kitano
Takeshi Kitano
is a Japanese filmmaker, comedian, singer, actor, film editor, presenter, screenwriter, author, poet, painter, and one-time video game designer who has received critical acclaim, both in his native Japan and abroad, for his highly idiosyncratic cinematic work. The famed Japanese film critic...
. It is the first film in Kitano's surrealist
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
autobiographical
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
trilogy, being followed by Glory to the Filmmaker!
Glory to the Filmmaker!
is a 2007 Japanese film written, directed, edited by the film's lead star Takeshi Kitano. It is the second film in Kitano's surrealist autobiographical trilogy, following Takeshis, and concluding with Achilles and the Tortoise.-Movie Style:...
, and Achilles and the Tortoise
Achilles and the Tortoise (film)
is a 2008 Japanese film written, directed, edited by Takeshi Kitano. The film is the third and final part of Kitano's surrealist autobiographical trilogy, starting with Takeshis and continuing with Glory to the Filmmaker!....
.
Film Structure
The original working title of Takeshis was FractalFractal
A fractal has been defined as "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is a reduced-size copy of the whole," a property called self-similarity...
, suggesting the film's structure. The film has nested storylines and depicts 8½
8½
8½ is a 1963 Italian fantasy film directed by Federico Fellini. Co-scripted by Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano, and Brunello Rondi, it stars Marcello Mastroianni as Guido Anselmi, a famous Italian film director...
-like identity crisis theme in autobiographical
Biographical film
A biographical film, or biopic , is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or people. They differ from films “based on a true story” or “historical films” in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a person’s life story or at least the most historically important years of their...
style. It is also strongly characterised by a series of surrealistic motives linked by chance encounters.
A prominent theme of the film is duality, as almost all the main characters appear in two forms or roles. Although it is hard to lay one's finger on the interpretation of this film, it can be said that self actualization
Self actualization
Self-actualization is a term that has been used in various psychology theories, often in slightly different ways. The term was originally introduced by the organismic theorist Kurt Goldstein for the motive to realize one's full potential...
is at least a major underlying theme.
Plot
Takeshis progresses through the nested storyline of the dual protagonists, Beat Takeshi and Mr. Kitano (both played by Kitano himself). Beat Takeshi, a prominent actor, meets a look-alike named Mr. Kitano, who is a struggling actor. After the meeting, Mr. Kitano's dreams take a violent, surreal turn.The film opens with a nightmare vision. American soldiers
Military of the United States
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
with carbines move down the fallen base filled up with bodies of Japanese combatants. One of dying combatants appears to be (Beat or Kitano) Takeshi. This opening scene is followed by the gun battle of a yakuza film
Yakuza film
is a popular film genre in Japanese cinema which focuses on the lives and dealings of yakuza, also referred to as the Japanese Mafia.-Ninkyo eiga:...
where one of the protagonists, 'Beat' Takeshi, plays the principal role. Flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
s of this gun battle are frequently used throughout the film.
'Beat' Takeshi is a showbiz
Show business
Show business, sometimes shortened to show biz, is a vernacular term for all aspects of entertainment. The word applies to all aspects of the entertainment industry from the business side to the creative element ....
star. He lives through business in film studio and TV stations where main casts appear in one of their dual roles (Takeshi's Girlfriend (Kotomi Kyono
Kotomi Kyono
Kotomi Kyono is a Japanese actress and occasional J-Pop singer...
), Takeshi's Manager (Ren Osugi
Ren Osugi
, born , is a Japanese actor. For his work in Cure, Hana-bi and other films, Osugi was given the Best Supporting Actor award at the 1999 Yokohama Film Festival...
), and Takeshi's former partner of stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...
(Susumu Terajima
Susumu Terajima
is a Japanese actor who has appeared in over 100 films, 15 television commercials, three PVs, and numerous television dramas in a career spanning over 20 years. He rarely is the star of the films he is in but he is widely respected for taking every job seriously and diving into his work,...
)).
The first appearance sequence of 'Beat' Takeshi also introduces some repetitive motives of Takeshis. (The caterpillar in a bouquet, a female impersonator of taishū engeki
Taishu engeki
' is a genre of popular theatre in Japan, frequently described as "light theatre", and compared to forms such as musical theatre and the revue....
(Taichi Saotome
Taichi Saotome
is a Japanese film and stage actor best known for playing beautiful young men and women. He is known as "Nagashime Ouji" or "Sidelong Glance Prince"....
), tap dancers in a rehearsal set, Akihiro Miwa
Akihiro Miwa
, is a Japanese singer, actor, drag queen, director, composer and author from Nagasaki in Nagasaki Prefecture. His real name is . He writes most of his own music and has written over 20 books. An open homosexual, he is also a drag queen who often dyes his shoulder-length hair bright yellow.-Early...
(a transvestite chanson
Chanson
A chanson is in general any lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular. A singer specialising in chansons is known as a "chanteur" or "chanteuse" ; a collection of chansons, especially from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, is also known as a chansonnier.-Chanson de geste:The...
singer), a pair of fat twins, and dialogs at a ramen
Ramen
is a Japanese noodle dish. It consists of Chinese-style wheat noodles served in a meat- or fish-based broth, often flavored with soy sauce or miso, and uses toppings such as , , kamaboko, green onions, and occasionally corn...
restaurant repeated later in varied situations.)
Mr. Kitano, the other protagonist, appears in a clown costume among the guys in a wardrobe of TV station. Mr. Kitano is an everyman, obsessed with his appearance identical to 'Beat' Takeshi. When two Takeshis encounter for the first time, Mr. Kitano seeks his heartthrob charisma's autograph
Autograph
An autograph is a document transcribed entirely in the handwriting of its author, as opposed to a typeset document or one written by an amanuensis or a copyist; the meaning overlaps with that of the word holograph.Autograph also refers to a person's artistic signature...
. 'Beat' Takeshi gives the autograph to him ironically.
Kitano, earning a living as a convenience store
Convenience store
A convenience store, corner store, corner shop, commonly called a bodega in Spanish-speaking areas of the United States, is a small store or shop in a built up area that stocks a range of everyday items such as groceries, toiletries, alcoholic and soft drinks, and may also offer money order and...
clerk, never gets ahead as an actor. He begins to fantasize himself as 'Beat' Takeshi in daydreams. Fragments of surreal dream crosses over into his life. We see bizarre things accompanied by dead bodies on the road while he is moonlighting as a taxi driver.
Kitano then happens to pick up a gun at a yakuza
Yakuza
, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...
quarrel. He shoots first his yakuza neighbor (Susumu Terajima
Susumu Terajima
is a Japanese actor who has appeared in over 100 films, 15 television commercials, three PVs, and numerous television dramas in a career spanning over 20 years. He rarely is the star of the films he is in but he is widely respected for taking every job seriously and diving into his work,...
), and begins to kill people around his world. The film implies it is some kind of a dream, showing deceased guys appear again in blood and yell alive normally. Kitano takes out his female neighbor (Kotomi Kyono
Kotomi Kyono
Kotomi Kyono is a Japanese actress and occasional J-Pop singer...
) and commits a bank robbery
Bank robbery
Bank robbery is the crime of stealing from a bank during opening hours. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, robbery is "the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of...
. Accomplishing his fantasies of acting like a movie star 'Beat' Takeshi, Kitano takes a journey into the absolutely bizarre, surreal world (an underground nightclub, night gun battles, and the catastrophe
Disaster
A disaster is a natural or man-made hazard that has come to fruition, resulting in an event of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or drastic change to the environment...
at a Boiling Point-, or Sonatine
Sonatine
is a 1993 Japanese film by Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Kitano. It won numerous awards and became one of Kitano's most successful and praised films, garnering him a sizable international fan base.-Plot:Kitano plays Murakawa, a Tokyo yakuza tiring of gangster life...
-like tropical island).
Cut suddenly back to Kitano's real life where he is still confused himself and 'Beat' Takeshi. He finds the movie star's autograph greeting, "Hello Mr. Clown!". It triggers 'Beat' Takeshi's assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
by Mr. Kitano. Cut suddenly again back to a close-up of 'Beat' Takeshi, which implies all of the film might be a dream of 'Beat' Takeshi. The film ends with flashback images of an American Soldier and the gun battle of a yakuza film at the beginning.
Cast
- Beat TakeshiTakeshi Kitanois a Japanese filmmaker, comedian, singer, actor, film editor, presenter, screenwriter, author, poet, painter, and one-time video game designer who has received critical acclaim, both in his native Japan and abroad, for his highly idiosyncratic cinematic work. The famed Japanese film critic...
as Beat Takeshi/Mr. Kitano - Kotomi KyonoKotomi KyonoKotomi Kyono is a Japanese actress and occasional J-Pop singer...
as Takeshi's Girlfriend/Kitano's female neighbor - Kayoko KishimotoKayoko Kishimotois an actress.She has appeared in several of Takeshi Kitano's films, such as Hana-bi, Kikujiro and Dolls. She won the award for best supporting actress at the 23rd Japan Academy Prize for Kikujiro.-Biography:...
as Mahjong parlor woman/audition producer/customer - Ren OsugiRen Osugi, born , is a Japanese actor. For his work in Cure, Hana-bi and other films, Osugi was given the Best Supporting Actor award at the 1999 Yokohama Film Festival...
as Takeshi's Manager/Taxi driver - Susumu TerajimaSusumu Terajimais a Japanese actor who has appeared in over 100 films, 15 television commercials, three PVs, and numerous television dramas in a career spanning over 20 years. He rarely is the star of the films he is in but he is widely respected for taking every job seriously and diving into his work,...
as Takeshi's friend/Kitano's yakuzaYakuza, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...
neighbor - Tetsu Watanabe as TV wardrobe master/noodle cook/audition actor
- Taichi SaotomeTaichi Saotomeis a Japanese film and stage actor best known for playing beautiful young men and women. He is known as "Nagashime Ouji" or "Sidelong Glance Prince"....
as himself
Reception
The plot's vague, often detached narrative is a considerable source of humour within the film. It has been lauded as both an achievement of surreal comedySurreal humour
Surreal humour is a form of humour based on violations of causal reasoning with events and behaviours that are logically incongruent. Constructions of surreal humour involve bizarre juxtapositions, non-sequiturs, irrational situations, and/or expressions of nonsense.The humour arises from a...
and a work of considerable editorial complexity.
Reviews
"Kitano's trilogy of parts aside, there's a bevy of other doppelgangers, mirror images and dead-ringers rife throughout this movie," reported the Daily Yomiuri in its review in 2005. "Kotomi KyonoKotomi Kyono
Kotomi Kyono is a Japanese actress and occasional J-Pop singer...
, while a tad dull as the movie star Takeshi's girlfriend, bears more than just costume jewellery sparkle in her ulterior role as a glitzy, ditsy yakuza girlfriend who happens to be the deadbeat Takeshi's tormenting neighbor."