Takeshis'

The film has a lot of potential, with tons of funny and impressive scenes and situations, characters who are made complete and alive with only a few brush strokes. It starts off as a wry satirical depiction of Japan's TV land and "Jollywood," and becomes increasingly surrealistic as it moves along (I'm using the word moves very loosely, as I couldn't see much plot development). It's Takeshi's 8 1/2, referencing a lot of the director/performer/producer's earlier work and showing his agony as artist and celebrity... There were also references to several classics (Scorcese's Taxi Driver comes to mind, for one) I'm only giving it a 4, as the last third of the film falls apart in a jumble of disjointed scenes, some of which remain too static too long.

I felt that Takeshi's contained enough stuff for several enjoyable movies, but a lot of it went to waste and was repeated ad nauseam. I think viewers could have a better experience with this movie if they were prepared to sit back and relax, enjoying eye candy and little bits thrown on the screen. To expect a follow-able plot would be a big mistake!

TAKESHIS' I have been thinking about what exactly the apostrophe in the title is doing.

An apostrophe is used to indicate the omission of a letter or letters from a word, the possessive case, or the plurals of numbers, letters, and abbreviations. To have a plural of "Takeshi", you just add an "s". To show that Takeshi owns something, you would simply write "Takeshi's thing". Therefore, the title "Takeshis'" would be the possessive of the plural "Takeshis".

Perhaps the title isn't (incorrectly) denoting a plural, but actually means that this film belongs to "more than one Takeshi"? It belongs to all of Takeshi's personas, and characters. It COULD just be another example of misuse of the poor apostrophe, but maybe Takeshi studied hard at school, and has dedicated this self-parody to himself, and his own multiplicity.

That being said, he reportably not all of the Takeshis are happy, as one was reportably quoted as saying: "Today I saw the film again and it's terrible. 'Who the hell made this?' I thought to myself. I set out to make a strange, groundbreaking film, and I think it succeeds, but it feels like I made a car that was so fast I couldn't drive it and fell out. If I win the Grand Prix, it must mean I'm nearing death, so I don't need it. This period is over. Next time I'm going to make an orthodox film in the style of the masters and then maybe I'll win." I think he was being too hard on himself (himselves?), but perhaps it never ends for an artists such as him (them?).

OK, enough with the plural jokes, and they probably only amuse me anyway. I just finished watching the film. It had been sitting on my shelf for a while, and I needed to relax after a frustrating mêlée in Half-Life 2 (Nova Prospekt!). I had intentionally read as little as I could about this film beforehand, and I had almost no idea what to expect when the film began. However, I instantly knew that I was watching a Takeshi Kitano film - the unmistakable style of the director completely permeates this film. Besides, there was a big blue "K" at the start.

This film is like some kind of flushing out of Kitano's creative musings. It is surreal and dreamlike, free form, and has some fantastic images and compositions. The film is almost totally devoid of complex narrative, and is instead experimental and perhaps introspective for the director. Perhaps this is what his dreams are like, and if he means what he said above, maybe this film is the end of an era - the final digestive process before moving on to the next creative banquet.

I truly respect Kitano for his bold creativity in film. He seems to attack it as he does his painting. He creates for himself, and I am sure whatever his next project is, it will be unmistakably his own.

The story's simple enough. Two men, both called Takeshi, live in Tokyo. One is a well-known actor and one is an actor-wannabe who works in a convenience store. The two Takeshis are being played by the director of the movie Takeshi Kitano. It may sound a bit like "Being John Malcovich" but goes far beyond that.

Sure, the movie isn't for everyone but it's definitely interesting and at parts very visual and imaginative. It's without any doubt the most extreme Meta-movie I ever seen.

When a movie has many layers you usually describe it as a "deep" movie. Takeshis has an enormous amount of layers but most of them are paper thin, if not shallow. In the beginning you try to keep track of whether you're watching a dream or one of the two Takeshis reality. It turns out to be a futile task, especially after one caterpillar-scene too many (You'll know it when you see it).

Do remember that this is not "Memento". It's not really meant to make sense. OK, I've always been allergic to the popular urge to over-explain everything in movies but Takeshis might be a bit too far in the other extreme. A heady cocktail of randomness and logical short circuits but not more than most people experience under a good nights sleep, which is what this movie is all about. Dreams and dreams within dreams.

Please, watch Takeshis with an open mind. You either regard it as an aged directors milestone after a long and creative odyssey of ups and downs, much like Fellinis "8 ½", or you can look at it as an overstressed actors brain fart after too many crazy TV-shows and gangster movies.

It's a bumpy ride, it may be a bit too long, weird and garish but you might have a few laughs and at least you have something to talk about afterward. A bit like a theme-park then, isn't it?

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.

I wasn't too keen on this film. While the overall plot is intriguing, with the 'real' Takeshi Kitano contrasting a 'look-alike' Takeshi Kitano with some interesting plot points, sequences and a story that is actually well-acted and entertaining, the style of this film took me for a loop.

Some sequences became fantasy sequences, but this wasn't realized until after the fact. Hence, this left me second guessing the truthfullness of the narrative as I was watching. The second guessing feeling, I think, held me back from fully engrossing myself in this as I started to question the story-teller and what I was seeing on the screen. When the movie ended, while the majority of these jumps in time or possibility were explained, I still had some uncertainty about what had actually happened. This feeling of not really knowing what I saw left me feeling very uncertain, and slightly confused. Somehow, I prefer movies that are relatively straightforward -- at least by the end of the story.

On the plus side, strong acting overall which viewers will find enjoyable. Seeing one actor play two strongly contrasting characters so well is indeed rewarding in itself. For that alone, I would recommend checking this out.