Kantoku · Banzai!

I can see why some people would hate this movie, but there are a lot of people who shouldn't miss it. I will argue that it is immensely funnier and more meaningful if the viewer: 1.) Has seen several of Takeshi's other films (at least one or two gangster ones, Kikujiro no Natsu, and Zatoichi for good measure)

and

2.) Is familiar with classic Japanese cinema, particularly the works of Yasujiro Ozu...but samurai and horror films are skewered here, too, so if they're more your bag, you'll still have something to relate to.

Bonus enjoyment if the viewer: 3.) Has some knowledge of Japanese and can catch the nuances that subtitles can't capture--the subtitles are indeed serviceable, and my Japanese isn't good enough to understand it without them, but some of the ritual Japanese expressions I caught were uproarious in certain contexts in the film

and 4.) Has spent some time in Japan. I feel like Japanese society, ritualistic conventions, and mannerisms are lampooned often in the film, and any Westerner who is often confused or frustrated by them may find this film a relief and a delight.

All in all, though, what is most necessary is an open mind. This film does not have a very meaningful ending, and even makes fun of the loose ends it leaves undone. It was made for the sake of comedy and is not plot or character-driven, so don't expect Hana-bi. If you're looking for a send-up of Japanese cinema (including the director's own works) and some completely ridiculous, from-way-out-in-left-field humor, check out Glory to the Filmmaker. Some of the gags do fall painfully flat, but even some of the really silly stuff made me laugh harder than I have at any other film in quite a while. Some of the film parodies are pretty subtle and understated, where you could *almost* take them seriously if they weren't in the context of such a ridiculous film, but since the movie makes it clear from the start that everything's a joke, you'll find yourself laughing out loud at the little things that are deliberately askew in them. The narrator is wonderful, too, and is responsible for a good portion of the laughs in the film. Personally I found this more accessible and far more enjoyable than Takeshis', perhaps because unlike that film, the director's intentions are clear here from the start: he's just doing it for the laughs.

If I had to name three directors that had a direct influence on my taste for Japanese movies, Takeshi Kitano would surely be among those three. Films like Hana-bi and Sonatine swept me away into a whole new abyss of film-making. So starting off this film section with a Kitano film is more than appropriate. And what better film to pick than his latest directorial effort, Kantoku: Banzai!. For better or for worse, a movie that at least deserves being written about. Kitano's wacky visions Although in certain ways a complete opposite, Kantoku: Banzai! is the companion piece of Takeshis', Kitano's previous film. When some time ago he announced that he wanted to take a different direction as a director (a quote that is directly referenced in Kantoku: Banzai!), he surely wasn't joking around. He abused Takeshis' to mix up all his previous films into one big Kitano shake. The result was unique. Kantoku: Banzai! fills the void Takeshis' left behind. As a mix of all the films he has never made, the result is even crazier.

Kantoku: Banzai! shares the same humor as Takeshis'. Something I'm sure most people will not appreciate. While Kitano's films have always been quite humorous, they still fitted the art-house mold. Apart from Getting Any? of course, but even to the most avid Kitano fans, that film is still relatively unknown. Kantoku: Banzai! sees Kitano going back to Beat Takeshi once more, his character that is most loved in his home country.

At the core of this movie, we find Kitano himself. Unable to decide what to make of his new film, he cycles through a series of failed projects, trying his hand at some of the genres he hasn't done before. The parodies on genre films are nice, although still pretty much rooted in the Kitano universe. Things get really weird when his "new" film finally starts. The film turns mad, introducing several crazy characters and delving into the weird kind of slapstick Kitano is known for in his Beat Takeshi role. The doll Kitano has been carrying around finally becomes Kitano himself, showing up whenever it gets rough on the director, taking all the hits.

Visually, the film is interesting. Not the knock-out beauty that a film like Dolls was, but much in the same vein as Katsuhito Ishii's Taste of Tea, Kantoku: Banzai! is filled with wacky visuals that defy description. The CGi is quite simplistic, but again this is used to maximum effect. Same goes for the music, which never bears the emotion of Hisaishi's best work, but still conveys and adds to the pleasure of this film.

Kantoku: Banzai! is not a perfect film. The structure of the film is quite repetitive (with Kitano trying out many different genres) so in places it does start to drag a little. The humor itself isn't always spot on but within a film like this that is to be expected. But what I missed the most was a scene similar to the end of Takeshis', where Kitano shows off that he can mix art-house with slapstick and still produce a killer result. That kind of grandeur is not really apparent in Kantoku: Banzai! Somehow this is a personal film, as Kitano clearly plays himself, lost in the world of cinema. But it's hard to tell where reality stops and where the film universe takes over. Kitano gloats, he is cocky and pretentious, but just as easily he makes fun of himself. He is one of the few that can actually pull off a film like this. Kantoku: Banzai is one big happy mess of film-making, referencing many other directors, resembling many more, but defying them all by making something totally unique and totally Kitano.

We'll see what the future brings. It's not a type of film that Kitano can repeat forever, but together with Takeshis' it marks a mad interruption in his line of work as a director. The film is fun, strange and compelling. It's nice to see many of his regulars pass by (although he should give Terajima a bigger role next time) and through all the wackiness, there's still a whole lot of solid ground in it. If anything, this film will only add to the myth that Takeshi Kitano is.

Highly recommended for fans, other people should treat this film with caution. I myself loved it, but I didn't expect anything else.

Beat Takeshi's Glory to the Filmmaker, in the first instance, is difficult to rate. Its merits are clear, but its failures are even more striking. It is second in his supposed trilogy of self-critical, self-reflective, self-mocking metamovies. Having given up on his increasingly mainstream audiences (the accolade he received after Zatoichi), Beat Takeshi is trying to bring the "Beat" back into the mix. It remains an open question whether his methods are to be applauded or lamented. Here, in this film, Kitano widens the schism between himself, the auteur, and the movie-going audiences, by techniques of alienation that are borderline sado-masochistic. The salvaging fact is the comedy of the film, which shows Kitano's long-standing background as a comic. He has shown this side of his psyche only very rarely in his films. So, I am torn between appreciating the light-hearted spirit of the film and castigating, as I should, its heavy-handed pacing and direction.

But let's look back for a moment... The film that started off this self-reflective trilogy two years ago, Takeshis', I really enjoyed (especially after repeated viewings), because it culminated his career up to that point. This current film does not achieve, or even try to achieve, anything of the sort. It does not reflect back as much as make fun of any sense of history and continuity. It is a meta-movie, a non-movie, a post-movie... and, underneath it all, a series of quirky scenes, gags and fragmentary ideas. The humour of the film is its driving force, making it closer to his comedy Getting Any (1995) than anything he's done before or since. But one has to wade through a pool of dragging nonsense to get to those tasty bits, for which reason I cannot recommend this film as a comedy.

At parts, I found the film pretentious, self-righteous and uninvolving. In a word, it's too self-conscious to be a comedy.

During some other scenes I was completely at loss of words (whether because of the film's absurdity, incoherence or its complete disregard for the audience), to the degree that I simply decided I would postpone my judgment for some other day... Well, that "other day" is today, but I still can't make up my mind... The movie disarms the viewer, but it does not live up to much, either. It's like an extended foreplay.

All in all, one has to appreciate Kitano's vision and uniqueness, but this film works best as a meta-statement of the art of movie making and not so well as a comedy, a drama or anything else. Most viewers will probably find it to be, rightly or wrongly, an irredeemable piece of trash.

I kinda liked it. It's not good enough to classify as Dada, but it's just a notch above kitsch.

My first experience with Taksehi Kitano (aka Beat Takeshi) as director as well as lead actor, and I say file away under first class WTF right next to Funky Forest and Night Dreams (review forthcomming).My first experience with Kitano was the disquiet ting almost sympathetic teacher in "Battle Royale", but I knew right away he was an actor worth looking into, and I'm usually not very interested specific in actors. The beginning when Kitano and his matching dummy (who trade places throughout the film, whenever Kitano feels pressured or uncomfortable) think of new films to make Kitano a success.

They try gangster movies, because they are what Kitano is best at, but he has done too many of them and wants to get away from being typecast. Then they try a "traditionally Japanese Ozu like film- the kind Wim Wenders would like", but it too falls through "who wants to waste a half hour on drinking liquor and tea?" Stories about the "common folk" aren't common anymore, and the black and white is now just alienating. They go through a few romances first where a woman is devoted to a man who is usually an artist or in some way disabled and these are called romantic comedies. Then they decide this is sexist so they try films where a man is devoted to a woman, and they call these tragedies. Martial arts period films and horror films get their turns as well, since both do well in foreign markets and might even get remade, but horror gives way to comedy, and neither make nearly enough at the box office.

All of these failures are visually punctuated by the suicide/murders of the Kitano shaped doll.Then providence strikes and Kitano knows what to do, he will make a big budget CGI sci-fi spectacle about meteors racing to earth, only the meteors will have faces and are supposed to become major characters in the film. After that reason abandons ship altogether and the last 45 minutes to an hour are the worlds longest Monty Python sketch involving Kitano as the assistant to a mad scientist/industrialist, and a mother and daughter trying to make cash the easy way, by putting roaches in their food at restaurants, getting hit by cars, and finally marrying Kitano. Trips to France, pro-wrestlers, villagers hopping like bunnies, robots, and generally inexplicable events follow one after the other until the credits.

In Godard like fashion even the characters seem out of place in this slapdash world, asking about why certain earlier strange things happened, at which point Kitano transforms into the wooden doll version of himself (if only we could all do this to get out of tough questions.)I laughed a few times, mostly out of surprise, but sometimes out of exhaustion. There's an early scene where Kitano tries to make a drama about the 50's, but fails once he realizes Japan in the 50's was the wrong place at the right time.

The nostalgic and innocent decade of American pop, was there a time of "discrimination, poverty, and domestic abuse". It was also when Kitano grew up, moments which begin with promise of sentiment or catharsis segue into reminders of social horror at every turn.I don't think he necessarily intended this scene to be the "heart" of the film, and not just another spoof scenario, but it goes longer than most of the others, and after seeing it, and the conceptual loops, dead ends, and false starts. The film maker goes through for sake of "glory" it's easy to understand how it might be tempting to just turn into a block of wood, and let your Id make the decisions (the caricature is at least indestructible).

Easier but not necessarily always entertaining to watch. Kitano did in fairness get his start as a stand-up comedian in the Manzai style (think fast past Abbot and Costello back and forth banter, which in Japan goes back to the 700's.), and many sequences like the martial arts instructor and his master, or the exploits of the strange stuffed animal ladies do take on the format of a Manzai routine. With a little cultural perspective the madness does have a method.Though considering the great ode to artistic impotence "8 1/2" has now become a star studded Hollywood musical in "Nine", it's easy to understand Kitano's frustrations with the cinematic redundancy and the bastardized genre permutations that they spawn.

So.. Kitano has a sense of humor after all! Just kidding. The movie has some points for the general audience but most of it requires some background in history of Japanese cinema, kitano's career, kitano way of life, etc..

So if you really want to see everything from Kitano's factory it's OK to watch, if you are really knowledgeable about all that stuff you probably got to watch it, but if you are neither one of them then you'll do fine without even knowing that it exists, although if you watch it (and have the presence of mind of not expecting much of it) then you can have a reasonably good time with it.

Kitano is having a hard time accepting he is meant to make movies of a special kind which is not the case of this movie.. He even mentions it in the movie: "I said I wont do another movie with violence and I got to stick to it" Well.. I'm afraid our dear Mr Kitano will have to swallow those words sooner or later, preferably long before he runs out of money.