Kitano Takeshi

1. Kitano Takeshi DeconstruactAing Violence

2. 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.

3. Kitano Takeshi • France-za, striptease, entertainment theatre

4. 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.

5. Asakusa Comedians

6. 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

7. 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)Main character • 1981 NatsunoHimitsu(Secrets of Summer)

8. Kitano Takeshi as Actor • 1983 Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence as Sgt. Hara

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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.

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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 ), Hana-bi (1997), Dolls (2002) • Slap-stick Comedy - Getting Any? (1995) • Drama on himself - Kikujiro (1999), Takeshi’s (2005)

25. Subversion of Genres • What makes Kitano auteur is not his consistent themes but his deconstruction of them. • Not about violence but about the disintegration of its meaning. • Not about love but about the loss of its meaning • Not about life styles, but about the ambiguity of their meaning • Conventional cinema concepts and traditional genre formulae are questioned, distorted and demolished.

26. 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)

27. 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)

28. Subversion of Genres Deviation 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 obtained by releasing heightened tension) → e.g. justice is done through fulfilling a violent revenge

29. Subversion of Genres → violence as a spectacle → violence as a game → violence as a means to satisfy sadistic / masochistic desire

30. Subversion of Genres • Violence and revenge • e.g. Godfather • Michael Colreone kills a mafia boss and a corrupt police cooperator who have nearly got his father assassinated.

31. 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.

32. Subversion of Genres • Violence as a game • e.g. Tarantino’s films • Virtual violence devoid of realistic meanings

33. Subversion of Genres • Violence as a means to satisfy sado-masochistic desire • Ultimagridadalla savanna (1975) • A pseudo-documentary about every sorts of shocking events

34. 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.

35. 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

36. 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?

37. 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?

38. Subversion of Genres • Absurd and irrational • No explanation of motives: no cause and effect → Make the meaning of violence unclear and ambiguous.

39. 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

40. 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.

41. 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.

42. Kitano and Other Genres • Hana-bi • Action/Melodrama or Action/Melodrama/Comedy • The film refuses fundamental classification

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

44. Kitano and Other Genres • 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.