Kitano Takeshi

Deconstructing Violence

Kitano Takeshi• Born on 17, January 194

7• 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• Tutored by Fukami Se

nzaburo 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 Beat.

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

• http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=QAHIAMYwfcM

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

Vergin) by Wakamatsu Koji, as an extra • http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=9cAH_J8JQw4

• 1980 Makoto chan (Makoto) as voice actor • 1981 Danpu Wataridori (Dump Migratory Bird) by S

ekimoto Ikuo• 1981 Manon by Maeda Katsuhiro• 1981 Sukkari Sonoki De (Completely with That Air )• 1982 Natsuno Himitsu (Secret of Summer)• 1983 Senjo no Merry Christmas (Merry Christmas,

Mr. Lawrence) by Oshima Nagisa• http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=LoV3rgyG2i4

Kitano Takeshi as Director• Sono Otoko Kyobo nitsuki

(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• 3-4x10gatsu (Boiling Poin

t, 1990)• Directed by Kitano Takes

hi• Written by Kitano Takeshi• Photographed by Yanagis

hima Katsumi• Edited by Kitano Takeshi

and Toshio Taniguchi• Shochiku Fuji and Bandai

Kitano Takeshi as Director• Ano Natsu, Ichiban Shizuk

ana Umi (A Scene at the Sea, 1991)

• Directed by Kitano Takeshi• Written by Kitano Takeshi• Photographed by Yanagishi

ma Katsumi • Edited by Kitano Takeshi• Office Kitano

Kitano Takeshi as Director

• Sonatine (1993)• Directed by Kitano Takes

hi• Written by Kitano Takeshi• Photographed by Yanagis

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

Kitano Takeshi as Director• Min’na Yatteruka! (Gettin

g Any, 1995)• Directed by Kitano Take

shi• Written by Kitano Takes

hi• Photographed by Yanagi

shima Katsumi• Edited by Kitano Takeshi• Office Kitano

Kitano Takeshi as Director• Kids Return (1996)• Directed by Kitano Takes

hi• Written by Kitano Takeshi• Photographed by Yanagis

hima Katsumi• Edited by Kitano Takeshi• Office Kitano, Bandai, Ot

a Publishing

Kitano Takeshi as Director• Hana-bi (Firework, 1997)• Directed by Kitano Takeshi• Written by Kitano Takeshi• Photographed by Yamamot

o Hideo• Edited by Kitano Takeshi a

nd Ota Yoshinori• Office Kitano, Bandai, TV T

okyo, Tokyo FM

Kitano Takeshi as Director• Kikujiro no Natsu (Kikujir

o, 1999) • Directed by Kitano Takes

hi• Written by Kitano Takeshi• Photographed by Yanagis

hima Katsumi• Edited by Kitano Takeshi

and Ota Yoshinori• Office Kitano, Bandai, Nip

pon Herald, FM Tokyo

Kitano Takeshi as Director

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

ma Katsumi• Edited by Kitano Takeshi a

nd 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 Yanagishi

ma Katsumi• Edited by Kitano Takeshi• Designed by Isoda Norihiro• Costume by Yamamoto Yoj

i• Office Kitano, Bandai, TV T

okyo, FM Tokyo

Kitano Takeshi as Director• Zatoichi (2003) • Directed by Kitano Takeshi• Written by Kitano Takeshi• Photographed by Yanagish

ima Katsumi• Edited by Kitano Takeshi• Office Kitano, TV, Asahi As

ahi Broadcasting Co. FM Tokyo, Dentsu

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

ma Katsumi• Edited by Kitano Takeshi• Costume by Yamamoto Yoj

i• Offfice Kitano, Bandai, TV

Asahi, FM Tokyo, Dentsu

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

a Katsumi• Edited by Kitano Takeshi• Office Kitano, Bandai, Dents

u, TV Asahi, FM Tokyo

Subversion of Genres• Action Film - Violent Cop (1989), Boiling Point

(1990), Sonatine (1993), Brother (2000), Zatoichi (2003)

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

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

• Slap-stick Comedy - Getting Any? (1995) • Biographical Drama - Kikujiro (1999), Takesh

i’s (2005)

Subversion of Genres• What makes Kitano auteur is not his consistent

themes but his deconstruction of them.• Not violence but how he deconstruct it.• Not love but how he deconstruct it.• Not life styles of young people but how he

deconstruct them.• Conventional cinema concepts and traditional

genre formulae are questioned, distorted and made ambiguous.

Subversion of Genres

• Violent Cop as an cop action thriller• A lone police officer attempts to bring justice

against a criminal organization and his own corrupt institution (Dirty Harry, French Connection)

Subversion of Genres

• 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)

Subversion of GenresDeviation from the rules of the genre featuring violence and violent actions

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

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

Subversion of Genres

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

Subversion of Genres

• Violence and revenge• e.g. Godfather • Michael Colreone kills a mafia boss and a c

orrupt police cooperator who have nearly got his father assassinated.

Subversion of Genres

• 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.

Subversion of Genres

• Violence as a game• e.g. Talantino’s films• Virtual violence devoid of realistic meanings

Subversion of Genres• Violence as a means

to satisfy sado-masochistic desire

• Ultima grida dalla savanna (1975)

• A pseudo-documentary about every sorts of shocking events.

Subversion of GenresViolent Cop• What is the purpose of

violence in this film?• Punishment - this purp

ose is undermined by the abuse of violence.

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

Subversion of Genres• 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 interc

hangeable

Subversion of Genres• Meanings of violence are further undermined

by the coexistence of humour and jokes.• Ambiguity of violence

Its functionIts morality

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

Subversion of Genres

Sonatine• Opaqueness in narrative, inner psyche of the

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

e does it come from?

Subversion of Genres

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

ambiguous.

Kitano and Other Genres

• Melodramas A Scene at the Sea and Fireworks - refusing the involvement of the audience 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.

Kitano and Other Genres

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

are emotionally alienated.

Kitano and Other Genres

• Hana-bi • Action/Melodrama or Action/Melodrama/Co

medy• The film refuses fundamental classification

Kitano and Other Genres

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

Kitano and Other Genres

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

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

cal elements, but they are unreliable.