Hana-bi, 1997( Movie still) A look at a few of the movies that sealed Takeshi Kitano’s name as one of Japan’s greatest modern filmmakersJuly 10,2020
When Takeshi Kitano initially rose to prominence as one half of comedy duo The 2 Beats in the late 70 s, few would have prepared for that 20 years later he would be among his nation’s leading movie directors. Even as his films acquired awards at global film festivals in the mid-90 s, few Japanese could take him seriously.
Already a family name by the 80 s, ‘Beat’ Takeshi was so carefully associated with comedy that his filmmaking “pastime” was mostly dismissed till the watershed year of 1997., the topic of a tabloid romance scandal, and even the face of a video game titled Takeshi’s Difficulty before he even picked up a video camera.
A string of nihilistic police procedural juxtaposing a reflective filmmaking style with abrupt violence would prove to be his most captivating works. And with the director occupying the lead acting role in each film, Kitano’s emotionless glare and hard-man persona would pertain to embody an entire new motion of Japanese movie theater. The New age of the 90 s would end up being so connected with Kitano that many critics would come to refer to it as “The ‘Beat’ Generation”.
As the BFI re-issues a trilogy of Kitano’s early works on Blu-ray as part of its continuous Japan 2020 season, we think about five of the very best features by one of 90 s Japan’s most enduring directors.
1. Violent Cop, 1989
While Nagisa Ōshima had opened the door for Kitano’s acting profession in 1983, casting him opposite David Bowie in Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, it was another much-celebrated Japanese director who would pass the torch to Kitano for his directorial debut..
Kinji Fukasaku, well known for his gangster franchise Battles Without Honor or Mankind, had actually initially signed on to direct 1989’s Violent Police officer with Kitano as lead star. When the veteran stepped away from the production, directorial tasks were left to the movie’s celebrity star. A years later on, Fukasaku would memorably cast Kitano as the villain schoolteacher of dystopian cult struck Battle Royale– but for now, Violent Cop was an opportunity for Kitano to show his chops as a director.
While gritty as hell, the movie’s slow, ponderous camerawork and explosive minutes of violence would raise its simplistic plot enough to win it the very best Director prize at the Yokohama Film Festival. And while Kitano is mostly dismissive of the film in retrospection (even recommending that the remaining facial shots and extended walking scenes were consisted of only to make up the movie’s runtime) Violent Police officer provides a thematic blueprint for the dichotomous crime movies to come.
Violent Police Officer, 1989( Movie still) 2. Sonatine,1993
While the detached hard-man of Violent Cop is straightforwardly shifted onto disenchanted yakuza boss Murakawa in Sonatine, the film identifies itself from its predecessor through its abrupt tonal shift in the second act. Ditching a grisly background in Tokyo organized crime, the cast of misfit thugs spend much of the film’s runtime on a picturesque beach paradise awaiting orders, in a non-traditional subversion of the gangster genre’s established tropes.
While Kitano claims that the vibrant beach vistas that often appear in his films are a symbol of impending death, the most obvious impact of Sonatine’s serene central setting is that it completely disarms the viewer for the movie’s violent conclusion..
For the a lot of part, the movie seems like a classic Yasujiro Ozu household drama– however the unfortunate truth is that Murakama and his hoodlums are marked for death from the start. The bleak, Scarface-like conclusion eventually feels inescapable, validating that the euphoric fever dream shared in the movie’s extended main act was however a short lived taste of what life might have been.
Sonatine, 1993( Film still) 3. Hana-bi,1997
Like most of Kitano’s early works, Sonatine failed to find an audience in the house– however after being picked up for the London Movie Celebration and nominated for the very best Director Award at Cannes, the director was beginning to make an impression abroad. Movie author Joe Hisaishi, best understood for his whimsical scores to Studio Ghibli animations, had picked up a Japanese Academy Award for his rating. And with routine stars Susumu Terajima (Ichi The Killer), and Ren Osugi (Remedy) now forming a recognisable cast of faces in Kitano’s universe, the director was poised for an advancement.
The culmination of all Kitano’s filmmaking experience was available in 1997, among the most substantial years in Japanese film history. As Naomi Kawase and Shoehei Imamura got major honours at Cannes (for Suzaku and Unagi/The Eel respectively), Kitano’s Hana-bi completed a not likely triplicate when it won Japan the Golden Lion at Venice. It was just the second Japanese movie to win leading honours since Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon won the award in1950
This elegiac masterwork significant Kitano’s go back to the criminal activity genre as writer-act
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