I am not going to stick with my own advice , I have written a lot of thoughts down after watching the movie that i am sharing below.
So instead of reading this you could just go and watch the movie. It is totally worth your time.
So in the beginning there are some quick flashbacks that sort of disrupts the pacing but make sense when you consider it in the bigger picture 'pun intended.
Because of the slow pacing and me thinking this was going to cover the entirity of Takeshi beat Kitano's vast career i thought I was watching a binge worthy documentary series at times .
That is because the basis for the script of this movie was written in 1998 and his film career had yet to take of. Despite allready been in a big blockuster Merry christmas, Mr Lawrence.
So seeing the older Beat Kitano seems somewhat of as ist ort of appears that he is looking back at his life. That is what such documentaries based on memoirs do.
So let us wind back. The title is a death giveaway and Mr Kitano has lived several lifes and this movie is about himself as an Asakusa Kid
So no childhood except his life in Asakusa up until he moved to a new chapter in his life. (the new chapter is not being referenced to in anyway) so it is all asakusa kid.
The story of Senzaburou Fukami is a heartbraking one and just like the story of TBK it reaches it climax when he visits the funeral through the backdoor.
Since the movie was directed by Gekidan hitori , and takeshi has credits for the script as well I am pretty much sure that where the differences with the memoir are , are there because Well Takeshi had 30 more years to reflect. If there are any at all.
Takeshi Beat Kitano like his master and all the persons who made a part of his success were all incredible humble and giving people.
In the end it is a documentary of hope and what it means to be human and what love is.
It is also a documentary of staying true to yourself and allways willing to learn.
It is hard because his mentor success was declining while Takeshi's star was rising. But the scene after his big national recognition is Takeshis recognition for the master and the master can acknowledge his never waning love for his partner one final time.
Anyway I should follow my title and sum it up here.
What you see is all relevant to Kitano. And not surprising while it is about him rising to fame that rising to stardom gets the background as he was in the when he was an elevator boy. It is a story about the wonderful people of the Asakusa France Za theatre (stripclub) which undoubtedly changed his life and this movie is a thank you to those.
