For those of you that may not be familiar with the Japanese Artist Takeshi Kitano, let me first introduce this multi talent. This really is necessary, as most Western People only know him from his Japanese Television Show Takeshis Castle, which has very little to do with the rest of his work and my confuse some of you. Kitano became famous as Beat Takeshi, and still most people in Japan refer to him with that name. You may think that this name comes from his often violent movies, but actually, he got this name while doing slapstick comedy in a duo with another comedian. Nowadays, in Japan, he is most know because of his daily television shows and radio emissions, that range from political/satirical to pure comedy and non-sense. In his own country, not that many people know that he also is an ingenious movie writer, director and actor, very often doing all of them during his movies. He owns his own studios and makes films that very often don't receive the recognition and appreciation they should, although he has in recent years been nominated or won on several occasions for Golden Lions (Hana-bi, Zatoichi, Dolls, Takeshis), Golden Palms etc. But part from these media appearances, he's also a great painter, photographer, cartoonist, writer and poet.
He made his directorial debut in 89 for the movie Violent Cop. He was only supposed to play the main character, but as the director dropped out, he overtook that role too and revised the whole movie. In case you've heard otherwise, his movies are not only about violence and Yakuzas, although in some cases they play a significant role. But they never stand for themselves, they always stand for something deeper most people may not realize.
Now let's come to his latest addition, Takeshis'. It is a master piece in every sense, but if you actually not into his movies, I strongly recommend not starting by this one, as you won't understand a thing (even if you speak Japanese:-). I'd recommend any newbie starting by Hana-bi, continuing with Kukijiros Summer, then Dolls and then Sonatine. This may sound like a lot of work, but it's definitely worth it. Please consider at least watching Hana-Bi, it's a fantastic movie from every point of view. Along those movies, you'll get used to the Japanese way of thinking, Kitanos visual and poetical styles, it will be very difficult to understand the very abstract but still hilarious movie Takesihis'.
I would describe the movie itself as David Lynch meets Haruki Murakami, Kitano style. I think if you know and appreciate each of them, you'll get my point. I don't want to and wouldn't be able to spoil any surprises, still I'm not going to tell you anything further as it would be impossible to reach the subtle brilliancy of this work of art.
