Kitano Takeshi

Kitano Takeshi

DeconstruactAilng Violence

Kitano Takeshi• Born on 17, January 1947• His father, Kikujiro, was a

house painter, a failed yakuza (?)

• Excelled in math and science, though he was a college drop-out.

• Found a job at France-za, a striptease club - being elevator operator and bringing in customers.

Kitano Takeshi

• France-za, striptease theatre, incl. magic, stand-up comedy, short comic play

Kitano Takeshi• Tutored by Fukami

Senzaburo to be a comedian.

• Kitano came at the end of the illustrious list of Asakusa entertainers since the pre-war period - Enomoto Ken’ichi, Furukawa Roppa, Atsumi Kiyoshi, Hagimoto Kin’ichi.

Asakusa Comedians

Kitano Takeshi • With Kaneko Kiyoshi, Kitano formed a duo standing comedian team, Two Beats.

• Anarchic stage performance - full of black homour, discriminatory jokes, obscene words and actions breaking broadcasting ethical codes, though popular.

• Two Beat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FuLi_UYGbk

Kitano Takeshi as Actor• 1969 Yuke Yuke Nidome no Shojo (Go, Go,

Second Virgin) by Wakamatsu Koji (as extra)• http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=9cAH_J8JQw4• 1980 Makoto-chan as voice actor • 1981 Danpu Wataridori (Truck Driver

Wanderers) as a supporting actor • 1981 Manon by Maeda Yoichi• 1981 Sukkari Sono Ki de (Completely

Serious) 　 Main character• 1981 Natsuno Himitsu (Secrets of Summer)

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=9cAH_J8JQw4

Kitano Takeshi as Actor

• 1983 Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence as Sgt. Hara

Kitano Takeshi as Director

• Violent Cop (1989) • Directed by Kitano Takeshi• Written by Nozawa Hisashi

(and Kitano Takeshi uncredited)

• Photographed by Sasakibara Yasushi

• Edited by Kamiya Nobutaka

Kitano Takeshi as Director• Boiling Point (1990)• Directed by Kitano Takeshi• Written by Kitano Takeshi• Photographed by

Yanagishima Katsumi• Edited by Kitano Takeshi

and Toshio Taniguchi• Shochiku Fuji and Bandai


• A Scene at the Sea 1991)• Directed by Kitano Takeshi• Written by Kitano Takeshi• Photographed by

Yanagishima Katsumi • Edited by Kitano Takeshi• Office Kitano


• Sonatine (1993)• Directed by Kitano Takeshi• Written by Kitano Takeshi• Photographed by

Yanagishima Katsumi• Edited by Kitano Takeshi• Shochiku Dai’ich Kogyo

Kitano Takeshi as Director• Getting Any (1995)• Directed by Kitano

Takeshi• Written by Kitano Takeshi• Photographed by

Yanagishima Katsumi• Edited by Kitano Takeshi• Office Kitano


• Kids Return (1996)• Directed by Kitano Takeshi• Written by Kitano Takeshi• Photographed by

Yanagishima Katsumi• Edited by Kitano Takeshi• Office Kitano, Bandai, Ota

Publishing


• Hana-bi (1997)• Directed by Kitano Takeshi• Written by Kitano Takeshi• Photographed by Yamamoto

Hideo• Edited by Kitano Takeshi

and Ota Yoshinori• Office Kitano, Bandai, TV

Tokyo, Tokyo FM


• Kikujiro (1999) • Directed by Kitano Takeshi• Written by Kitano Takeshi• Photographed by


and Ota Yoshinori• Office Kitano, Bandai,

Nippon Herald, FM Tokyo


• Brother (2000)• Directed by Kitano Takeshi• Written by Kitano Takeshi• Photographed by


and Ota Yoshinori• Bandai, Office Kitano, FM

Tokyo, Little Brother Inc.

Kitano Takeshi as Director• Dolls (2002)• Directed by Kitano Takeshi• Written by Kitano Takeshi• Photographed by

Yanagishima Katsumi• Edited by Kitano Takeshi• Designed by Isoda Norihiro• Costume by Yamamoto Yoji• Office Kitano, Bandai, TV

Tokyo, FM Tokyo


• Zatoichi (2003) • Directed by Kitano Takeshi• Written by Kitano Takeshi• Photographed by

Yanagishima Katsumi• Edited by Kitano Takeshi• Office Kitano, TV, Asahi

Asahi Broadcasting Co. FM Tokyo, Dentsu

Kitano Takeshi as Director• Takeshi’s (2005)• Directed by Kitano Takeshi• Written by Kitano Takeshi• Photographed by

Yanagishima Katsumi• Edited by Kitano Takeshi• Costume by Yamamoto Yoji• Office Kitano, Bandai, TV

Asahi, FM Tokyo, Dentsu

Kitano Takeshi as Director• Kantoku Banzai (2007)• Directed by Kitano Takeshi• Written by Kitano Takeshi• Photographed by Yanagishima

Katsumi• Edited by Kitano Takeshi• Office Kitano, Bandai, Dentsu,

TV Asahi, FM Tokyo

Kitano Takeshi as Director• Achilles and the Tortoise

(2008)• Directed by Kitano

Takeshi• Written by Kitano Takeshi• Photographed by

Yanagishima Katsumi• Edited by Kitano Takeshi• Design by Isoda Norihiro• Office Kitano, Bandai, TV

Asahi, FM Tokyo


• Outrage (2010)• Directed by Kitano Takeshi• Written by Kitano Takeshi• Photographed by

Yanagishima Katsumi• Edited by Kitano Takeshi,

Ota Yoshinori• Design by Kurosawa Kazuko• Office Kitano, Warner Bros.


• Outrage beyond (2012)• Directed by Kitano Takeshi• Written by Kitano Takeshi• Photographed by

Yanagishima Katsumi• Edited by Kitano Takeshi,

Ota Yoshinori• Design by Kurosawa Kazuko• Office Kitano, Bandai Visual,

TV Tokyo, Warner Bros.

Kitano Takeshi as Director• Outrage (2010)• Directed by Kitano Takeshi• Written by Kitano Takeshi• Photographed by Yanagishima

Katsumi• Edited by Kitano Takeshi and

Ota Yoshinori• Costume by Kurosawa Kazuko• Office Kitano, Bandai, TV

Tokyo, FM Tokyo, Omnibus

Subversion of Genres• Action Film (Cop and Yakuza) - Violent Cop

(1989), Boiling Point (1990), Sonatine (1993), Haba-bi (1997), Brother (2000), Zatoichi (2003), Outrage (2010), Outrage beyond (2012)

• Youth Film - A Scene at the Sea (1991), Kids Return (1996)

• Melodrama - (A Scene at the Sea ), (Hana-bi) (1997), Dolls (2002)

• Slap-stick Comedy - Getting Any? (1995) • Drama on himself - Kikujiro (1999), Takeshi’s

(2005)

Subversion of Genres• What makes Kitano auteur – making mainly

action films, his films deconstruct genre conventions.

• In his action films, purposes of violence disintegrate – meanings of violence obfuscated – no definite purpose and meanings of violence

• His melodrama – romances are not about love but about the loss of its meaning

• His (autobiographical) films are not about himself, but fictionalize, mystify, and obscure himself.

Subversion of Genres

• Conventional cinema concepts and traditional genre formulae are questioned, distorted and demolished.

Subversion of Genres: Violent Cop

• Violent Cop as an cop action thriller• A lone police officer attempts punish a criminal

organization and his own corrupt institution, taking justice into his own hands (in the tradition of Dirty Harry, French Connection)

Subversion of Genres: Sonatine

• Sonatine as a yakuza action thriller• A Tokyo yakuza was commissioned to take his

men to Okinawa to settle the local dispute between two clans only to find that this is a set up. While he is away, others can take over his territory. (The Yakuza Paper and other gangster films)


Deviation from the rules of the genre featuring violence and violent actions

Movies with Violent Actions• Devoid of catharsis functioning of violence (Catharsis - Aristotelian concept of pleasure

obtained by releasing heightened tension)→ e.g. justice is done through fulfilling a violent revenge


→ violence as a spectacle→ violence as a game→ violence as a means to satisfy sadistic / masochistic desire


• Violence and revenge• e.g. Godfather • The horse that a Hollywood producer owns and

loves is beheaded and placed in his bed, because he refused to use Don Corleone’s protégé for a film.

Subversion of Genres • Justice taken into one’s own hands

• Dirty Harry • A San Francisco Police

Inspector, Harry Callahan, as tough as nail, is assigned to catch a serial killer. He employs legally dubious violent methods to carry out his duty. They bring out satisfaction among the audience.


• Violence as a spectacle• e.g. Bonnie and Clyde• Well-choreographed deaths of the hero and

heroine which provokes sadness and sympathy among the audience.


• Violence as a game• e.g. Tarantino’s films• Virtual violence devoid of reality. Virtuality

and the lack of reality make violence more acceptable.

Subversion of Genres• Violence as a means to satisfy sado-masochistic desire

• Ultima grida dalla savanna (1975)

• A pseudo-documentary about every sort of shocking events

• The film satisfies the audience’s hidden sado-masochistic desire or tendencies.

Subversion of GenresViolent Cop• What is the purpose of

violence in this film?• Punishment - this purpose

is undermined by the excessive violence shown by the cop.

The cop and the gangster are equal in their obsession with violence.


• Revenge - loses its meaning when it loses its sight of what to achieve.

The cop kills his own sister at the end of the film. • Good and evil interchangeable


• Meanings of violence are further undermined by the frequent inclusion of jokes.

• Ambiguity of violenceIts functionIts morality

• Ambiguity in attitudes towards violence - criticizing or romanticizing? Demystifying or glorifying?


Sonatine• Opaqueness in narrative, inner psyche of the

characters, and motivation for their actions• Obvious death wish of the protagonist - where

does it come from?


• Absurd and irrational• No explanation of motives: no cause and effect → Make the meaning of violence unclear and

ambiguous.


• A retired cop robs a bank in order to give his former colleague, who is now wheelchair bound after he received injury on duty, compensation. He also kills yakuza from who he borrowed money.

Subversion of Genres• Why does Nishi have to

rob the bank? • For the needs of his wife

who is dying from leukemia?

• To pay back the money that Nishi and his colleague borrowed from the yakuza?

• What were the need for money?


• Why does Nishi have to kill yakuza? • Is that because he owes them money and cannot

repay? Or because they have insulted him?• Why did he borrow money to start with?

Kitano and Other Genres

• Melodramas A Scene at the Sea and Hana-bi - blocking the audience from involving in the actions of the film.

• Love unfulfilled because of death or being overshadowed by death

Kitano and Other Genres• A Scene at the Sea• A part-time garbage

collector, who is deaf and mute, finds a cracked surfboard. He practices surfing and his girlfriend, who is also deaf, watches on. Summer turns autumn. One rainy day, the girl sees her boyfriend surfboard but not him.


• Scarcity of dialogues• Lack of emotional highs and lows• Alienate the viewer as the characters in the film

are emotionally alienated.


• Hana-bi • Action/Melodrama or

Action/Melodrama/Comedy• The film refuses fundamental classification


• Sentimental - but interruptions, ellipses, discontinuities, and frequent flashbacks in narrative prevents the viewer from identifying with characters in the film.


• Biographical and auto-biographical films• Kikujiro is based on the memory of Kitano’s father,

Kikujiro, but its accuracy is doubtful. • It includes many biographical and autobiographical

elements, but they are unreliable.

Documents

Kitano Takeshi