Instant Favorite.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

How many truly unique films have come out since the year 2000? Not too many. In an age of remakes, rehashes, and parodies, where every film by every director looks exactly the same, it's hard to find an innovative film, especially in the "comedy" genre. Yet once again Kitano delivers in this surreal comedy gem that is unique, deeply personal, affecting on a spiritual level, and is absolutely HILARIOUS.Takeshi's previous film, "Takeshis'" was a surreal compilation of every film Kitano had made prior to it. This film is something of a compilation of all the kinds of films he hasn't made yet. The first half of this film explores that to a hilarious degree, but the second half is when this film really shines. Some of the most off-the-wall, UNREAL humor I've ever seen in a film, specifically a brief animated part near the end that is probably the greatest scene I've ever seen in a film, period.Though for nostalgic reasons, my PERSONAL favorite Kitano films will always be "Hana-Bi" and "Sonatine", I have noticed that Takeshi has actually been getting better and better in recent years (excluding "Zatoichi") as he is starting to explore the more surreal, beautiful, and bizarre moments only hinted at in his first few films. Indeed, like many people, I find Takeshi to be the best director currently working in the world today, and his films are always gems... he's completely tearing apart the very essence of cinema, yet still not jumping into a black hole of impenetrable artiness. "Art for art's sake", maybe, but this is still some brilliant, hilarious stuff, and I'm very happy Takeshi is taking all the money he earns from his acting and personal appearances and pouring them into these brilliant films. The "critics" and Japanese audiences may not care for them, but I'm sure in 10-20 years from now, these films be looked upon as classics of cinema.

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.

It's a question how much of an impression that Monty Python made in Japan overall but it certainly seems to be an influence on Kitano's latest work. Certainly Terry Gilliam's signature title graphics for Life of Brian and Meaning of Life are alluded to in this film.The film starts as the narrator gives an account on how Kitano's newest film is coming along. Since Kitano is uncomfortable with the genres of Romance and family drama, these films are abandoned and he is given some action fare to work with. The results are less than satisfactory so it's decided to have Kitano direct an asteroid on collision with earth film. This takes us about 45 minutes into the real film and at this point things get very strange. A mother and daughter (the mother has a giraffe doll on her back and the daughter has a goose puppet on one arm) decide to not pay for a bowl of noodles by dropping a cockroach (that they carry around for just an occasion) into the food and complaining to the chef. But before they can complain, a bunch of professional wrestlers at another table complain about roaches in their food. The two chefs come out and beat up the wrestlers. Kitano plays an assistant to a weird chairman of a society that's devoted to performing odd acts of charity. The chairman's son looks a lot like the Mr. Gumby character from Monty Python.Kitano speaks very little in this film. Mostly he is silent and immobile much like the metal doll that stands in for him during the fight sequences. Once we get into the second half, he loosens up especially during his pantomime comedy bits. The film seems like it's a statement about being an aging film maker in the Japanese entertainment world. Unfortunately, for me the pacing was very slow at times and could have had a good 10 minutes cut out without losing any content. I laughed at some of the film but by the end I was wondering if the film was just Kitano screwing around with ideas.I enjoyed watching this film but I have a had time recommending it to anyone but Kitano fans.