Glory to the Filmmaker!

2007
Glory to the Filmmaker!
6.3| 1h48m| en| More Info
Released: 02 June 2007 Released
Producted By: Bandai Visual
Country: Japan
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.office-kitano.co.jp/banzai/
Synopsis

Takeshi Kitano plays a version of himself in which he's a struggling director cycling through a number of different genres in an effort to complete his latest project.

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Joseph Sylvers 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.
Onderhond 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.
Richard I saw this film at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival.Glory to the Filmmaker! is the latest work from the mind of Takeshi Kitano. Featuring a slightly fictionalized version of himself, the film follows Kitano in a search for his next big hit, following his public declaration that he would stop doing Yakuza movies. In a wild and funny journey, Kitano takes us through his failed, aborted, and commercially unsuccessful attempts, featuring a number of co-stars from his past movies. The journey spans every genre imaginable, from a quiet, introspective story of a just-retired salaryman (reminiscent of the works of Ozu), to a ninja action film, to multiple relationship stories, to a film set in the 50's recalling the hardship and depression of post-war Japan, before finally settling on an offbeat sci-fi flick.That film is ostensibly about an asteroid hurtling towards Earth, but soon diverts to a story about mother-daughter con artists who are trying to scam Kitano's character, an aide to an eccentric rich man who funds all sorts of oddball causes. All the while, Kitano is constantly changing into a life-sized doll version of himself. And if none of that makes any sense, then you've pretty much captured the feeling of watching that part of the movie.Kitano was not present at the screening, but he (or rather, his doll surrogate) taped an interview for the festival that preceded the film, which pretty much set the tone for what was to follow. The film is about as self-referential as his last work screened at the festival, Takeshis'. The first half of the movie was surprisingly accessible and hilarious, but the second was as impenetrable, surreal, and self-mocking as you'd come to expect of Kitano's later work. Not that that is a bad thing, but don't come into it expecting anything resembling a straightforward narrative. If you're a fan of Kitano's work and his fertile imagination, then you'll enjoy the film, but I imagine many others will be lost in the last half of the picture.
bruce_files_3 Takeshi's gang hit again. And its a good one. But I am a fan, so don't consider much my opinion. Just keep in mind about this film that if not anything else, it will expand your mind about what is cinema today. That doesn't mean that everything is fresh or striking in those two hours, nor that there is a serious possibility that you will like it, if you ain't a "Kitano-fan"! Then again, Mr. Kitano has stopped making films for the audience or the critics (whatever that means). And the results only his fans can appreciate it. All the rest, better go back and revisit his previous films. Then, you too, will want to shout,"Kantoku...Banzai!!!",indeed!!!!!