Kitano Takeshi Deconstructing Violence Kitano Takeshi

Kitano Takeshi Deconstructing Violence

Kitano Takeshi • Born on 17, January 1947 • His father, Kikujiro, was a house painter, a failed yakuza(? ) • Excelled in math and science, though he was a college drop-out. • Found a job at France-za, a striptease club - being elevator operator and bringing in customers.

Kitano Takeshi • France-za, striptease, entertainment theatre

• Tutored by Fukami Senzaburo to be a comedian. • Kitano came at the end of the illustrious list of Asakusa entertainers since the pre-war period - Enomoto Ken’ichi, Furukawa Roppa, Atsumi Kiyoshi, Hagimoto Kin’ichi. Kitano Takeshi

Asakusa Comedians

Kitano Takeshi • With Kaneko Kiyoshi, Kitano formed a duo standing comedian team, Two Beats. • Anarchic stage performance - full of black homour, discriminatory jokes, obscene words and actions breaking broadcasting ethical codes, though popular. • Two Beat

Kitano Takeshi as Actor • 1969 Yuke Nidome no Shojo (Go, Second Vergin) by Wakamatsu Koji, as an extra • http: //jp. youtube. com/watch? v=9 c. AH_J 8 JQw 4 • 1980 Makoto chan (Makoto) as voice actor • 1981 Danpu Wataridori (Dump Migratory Bird) by Sekimoto Ikuo • 1981 Manon by Maeda Katsuhiro • 1981 Sukkari Sonoki De (Completely with That Air ) • 1982 Natsuno Himitsu (Secret of Summer) • http: //jp. youtube. com/watch? v=Lo. V 3 rgy. G 2 i 4

Kitano Takeshi as Actor • 1983 Senjo no Merry Christmas (Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence) by Oshima Nagisa

Kitano Takeshi as Director • Violent Cop (1989) • Directed by Kitano Takeshi • Written by Nozawa Hisashi (and Kitano Takeshi uncredited) • Photographed by Sasakibara Yasushi • Edited by Kamiya Nobutaka

Kitano Takeshi as Director • • Boiling Point (1990) Directed by Kitano Takeshi Written by Kitano Takeshi Photographed by Yanagishima Katsumi • Edited by Kitano Takeshi and Toshio Taniguchi • Shochiku Fuji and Bandai

Kitano Takeshi as Director • • A Scene at the Sea 1991) Directed by Kitano Takeshi Written by Kitano Takeshi Photographed by Yanagishima Katsumi • Edited by Kitano Takeshi • Office Kitano

Kitano Takeshi as Director • • Sonatine (1993) Directed by Kitano Takeshi Written by Kitano Takeshi Photographed by Yanagishima Katsumi • Edited by Kitano Takeshi • Shochiku Dai’ich Kogyo

Kitano Takeshi as Director • Getting Any (1995) • Directed by Kitano Takeshi • Written by Kitano Takeshi • Photographed by Yanagishima Katsumi • Edited by Kitano Takeshi • Office Kitano

Kitano Takeshi as Director • • Kids Return (1996) Directed by Kitano Takeshi Written by Kitano Takeshi Photographed by Yanagishima Katsumi • Edited by Kitano Takeshi • Office Kitano, Bandai, Ota Publishing

Kitano Takeshi as Director • • Hana-bi (1997) Directed by Kitano Takeshi Written by Kitano Takeshi Photographed by Yamamoto Hideo • Edited by Kitano Takeshi and Ota Yoshinori • Office Kitano, Bandai, TV Tokyo, Tokyo FM

Kitano Takeshi as Director • • Kikujiro (1999) Directed by Kitano Takeshi Written by Kitano Takeshi Photographed by Yanagishima Katsumi • Edited by Kitano Takeshi and Ota Yoshinori • Office Kitano, Bandai, Nippon Herald, FM Tokyo

Kitano Takeshi as Director • • Brother (2000) Directed by Kitano Takeshi Written by Kitano Takeshi Photographed by Yanagishima Katsumi • Edited by Kitano Takeshi and Ota Yoshinori • Bandai, Office Kitano, FM Tokyo, Little Brother Inc.

Kitano Takeshi as Director • • Dolls (2002) Directed by Kitano Takeshi Written by Kitano Takeshi Photographed by Yanagishima Katsumi Edited by Kitano Takeshi Designed by Isoda Norihiro Costume by Yamamoto Yoji Office Kitano, Bandai, TV Tokyo, FM Tokyo

Kitano Takeshi as Director • • Zatoichi (2003) Directed by Kitano Takeshi Written by Kitano Takeshi Photographed by Yanagishima Katsumi • Edited by Kitano Takeshi • Office Kitano, TV, Asahi Broadcasting Co. FM Tokyo, Dentsu

Kitano Takeshi as Director • • Takeshi’s (2005) Directed by Kitano Takeshi Written by Kitano Takeshi Photographed by Yanagishima Katsumi • Edited by Kitano Takeshi • Costume by Yamamoto Yoji • Office Kitano, Bandai, TV Asahi, FM Tokyo, Dentsu

Kitano Takeshi as Director • • Kantoku Banzai (2007) Directed by Kitano Takeshi Written by Kitano Takeshi Photographed by Yanagishima Katsumi • Edited by Kitano Takeshi • Office Kitano, Bandai, Dentsu, TV Asahi, FM Tokyo

Kitano Takeshi as Director • Achilles and the Tortoise (2008) • Directed by Kitano Takeshi • Written by Kitano Takeshi • Photographed by Yanagishima Katsumi • Edited by Kitano Takeshi • Design by Isoda Norihiro • Office Kitano, Bandai, TV Asahi, FM Tokyo

Kitano Takeshi as Director • • Outrage (2010) Directed by Kitano Takeshi Written by Kitano Takeshi Photographed by Yanagishima Katsumi • Edited by Kitano Takeshi and Ota Yoshinori • Costume by Kurosawa Kazuko • Office Kitano, Bandai, TV Tokyo, FM Tokyo, Omnibus

Subversion of Genres • Action Film - Violent Cop (1989), Boiling Point (1990), Sonatine (1993), Brother (2000), Zatoichi (2003) • Youth Film - A Scene at the Sea (1991), Kids Return (1996) • Melodrama - (A Scene at the Sea ) Hana-bi (1997), Dolls (2002) • Slap-stick Comedy - Getting Any? (1995) • Biographical Drama - Kikujiro (1999), Takeshi’s (2005)

Subversion of Genres • What makes Kitano auteur is not his consistent themes but his deconstruction of them. • Not violence but how he deconstruct it. • Not love but how he deconstruct it. • Not life styles of young people but how he deconstruct them. • Conventional cinema concepts and traditional genre formulae are questioned, distorted and made ambiguous.

Subversion of Genres: Violent Cop • Violent Cop as an cop action thriller • A lone police officer attempts to bring justice against a criminal organization and his own corrupt institution (Dirty Harry, French Connection

Subversion of Genres: Violent Cop Azuma (Kitano) is a rogue homicide detective, a loner without respect or care for neither his superiors nor police procedures, using violence and other unethical methods to get results. When his best friend gets killed by the yakuza, he goes after the killer, but instead of getting support, Azuma is charged with wrongful arrest, planting of evidence and attempting to kill a prisoner. He is fired. Having lost everything and feeling betrayed, he buys a gun and goes on a personal vendetta, seeking justice in the only way he knows: By killing everyone in his way.

Subversion of Genres: Sonatine • Sonatine as a yakuza action thriller • A Tokyo yakuza was commissioned to take his men to Okinawa to settle the local dispute between two clans only to find that this is a set up. While he is away, others can take over his territory. (The Yakuza Paper and other gangster films)

Subversion of Genres Deviation from the rules of the genre featuring violence and violent actions Movies with Violent Actions • Devoid of Catharsistic functioning of violence (Catharsis - Aristotelian concept of pleasure obtained by releasing heightened tension) → e. g. justice is done through fulfilling a violent revenge.

Subversion of Genres → violence as a spectacle → violence as a game → violence as a means to satisfy sadistic / masochistic desire

Subversion of Genres • Violence and revenge • e. g. Godfather • Michael Colreone kills a mafia boss and a corrupt police cooperator who have nearly got his father assassinated.

Subversion of Genres • Violence as a spectacle • e. g. Bonnie and Clyde • Well-choreographed deaths of the hero and heroine which provokes sadness and sympathy among the audience.

Subversion of Genres • Violence as a game • e. g. Tarantino’s films • Virtual violence devoid of realistic meanings

Subversion of Genres • Violence as a means to satisfy sadomasochistic desire • Ultima grida dalla savanna (1975) • A pseudo-documentary about every sorts of shocking events.

Subversion of Genres Violent Cop • What is the purpose of violence in this film? • Punishment - this purpose is undermined by the abuse of violence. The cop and the gangster are equal in their obsession with violence.

Subversion of Genres • Revenge - loses its meaning when it loses its sight of what to achieve. The cop kills his own sister at the end of the film. • Good and evil interchangeable

Subversion of Genres • Meanings of violence are further undermined by the coexistence of humour and jokes. • Ambiguity of violence Its function Its morality • Ambiguity in attitudes towards violence criticizing or romanticizing? Demystifying or glorifying?

Subversion of Genres Sonatine • Opaqueness in narrative, inner psyche of the characters, and motivation for their actions • Obvious death wish of the protagonist - where does it come from?

Subversion of Genres • Absurd and irrational • No explanation of motives: no cause and effect → Make the meaning of violence unclear and ambiguous.

Kitano and Other Genres • Melodramas A Scene at the Sea and Hana-bi - refusing the involvement of the audience in the actions of the film. • Love unfulfilled because of death or being overshadowed by death

Kitano and Other Genres • A Scene at the Sea • A part-time garbage collector, who is deaf and mute, finds a cracked surfboard. He practices surfing and his girlfriend, who is also deaf, watches on. Summer turns autumn. One rainy day, the girl sees her boyfriend surfboard but not him.

Kitano and Other Genres • Scarcity of dialogues • Lack of emotional highs and lows • Alienate the viewer as the characters in the film are emotionally alienated.

Kitano and Other Genres • Hana-bi • Action/Melodrama or Action/Melodrama/Comedy • The film refuses fundamental classification

Kitano and Other Genres • Sentimental - but interruptions, ellipses, discontinuities, and frequent flashbacks in narrative prevents the viewer from identifying with characters in the film.

Kitano and Other Genres • Biographical and auto-biographical films • Kikujiro is based on the memory of Kitano’s father, Kikujiro, but its accuracy is doubtful. • It includes many biographical and autobiographical elements, but they are unreliable.