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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.
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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 FukamiSenzaburo to be a comedian. • Kitano came at the end of the illustrious list of Asakusa entertainers since the pre-war period - EnomotoKen’ichi, Furukawa Roppa, Atsumi Kiyoshi, HagimotoKin’ichi.
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. • Two Beat
Kitano Takeshi as Actor • 1969 YukeYukeNidome no Shojo(Go, Go, Second Virgin) by Wakamatsu Koji (as extra) • http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=9cAH_J8JQw4 • 1980 Makoto-chanas voice actor • 1981 DanpuWataridori(Truck Driver Wanderers)as a supporting actor • 1981 Manonby Maeda Yoichi • 1981 SukkariSono Ki de (Completely Serious) by KitaniTsugunobu:Main character • 1981 Natsuno Himitsu(Secrets of Summer)by Kawakami Hiromichi
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 NozawaHisashi (and Kitano Takeshi uncredited) • Photographed by Sasakibara Yasushi • Edited by KamiyaNobutaka
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
Kitano Takeshi as Director • A Scene at the Sea (1991) • Directed by Kitano Takeshi • Written by Kitano Takeshi • Photographed by Yanagishima Katsumi • Edited by Kitano Takeshi • Office Kitano
Kitano Takeshi as Director • 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
Kitano Takeshi as Director • Kids Return (1996) • Directed by Kitano Takeshi • Written by Kitano Takeshi • Photographed by Yanagishima Katsumi • Edited by Kitano Takeshi • Office Kitano, Bandai, Ota Publishing
Kitano Takeshi as Director • 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
Kitano Takeshi as Director • Kikujiro (1999) • Directed by Kitano Takeshi • Written by Kitano Takeshi • Photographed by Yanagishima Katsumi • Edited by Kitano Takeshi and Ota Yoshinori • Office Kitano, Bandai, Nippon Herald, FM Tokyo
Kitano Takeshi as Director • Brother (2000) • Directed by Kitano Takeshi • Written by Kitano Takeshi • Photographed by Yanagishima Katsumi • Edited by Kitano Takeshi 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
Kitano Takeshi as Director • 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 IsodaNorihiro • Office Kitano, Bandai, TV Asahi, FM Tokyo
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
Kitano Takeshi as Director • Outragebeyond (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.
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 • Sonatineas 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 Genres 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
Subversion of Genres → violence as a spectacle → violence as a game → violence as a means to satisfy sadistic / masochistic desire
Subversion of Genres Violent 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.
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 interchangeable
Subversion of Genres • Meanings of violence are further undermined by the frequent inclusion of jokes. • Ambiguity of violence Its function Its 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 - where 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.
Subversion of Genres • Hana-bi • 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 whom 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?
Subversion of Genres • 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’s Mannerist Style; Mise-en-scène • Mise-en-scene of Kitano’s films: creation of ascetic and clinically clean atmosphere • Stillness, silence, emptiness, nothingness • Empty sea, empty land, empty school ground, empty swimming pool
Kitano’s Mannerist Style; Mise-en-scène • Empty sea in Okinawa • Boiling Point
Kitano’s Mannerist Style; Mise-en-scène • Empty beach • A Scene at the Sea
Kitano’s Mannerist Style; Mise-en-scène • Empty road and beach • Sonatine
Kitano’s Mannerist Style; Mise-en-scène • Empty school ground and underpath • Kids Return
Kitano’s Mannerist Style; Mise-en-scène • Empty sea with Horibe and empty lake with Nishi and his wife • HANA-BI
Kitano’s Mannerist Style; Mise-en-scène • Empty swimming pool and empty river bank • Kikujiro
Kitano’s Mannerist Style; Mise-en-scène • Empty snow-capped mountain top and empty path in autumn colours • Dolls