KANTOKU BANSAI! (GLORY TO THE DIRECTOR)

Japan, 2007, 104 minuntes, Colour.
Directed by Takeshi Kitano

Takeshi Kitano is one of Japan’s best known directors. After a series of crime films in the 1990s, he won the Venice Golden Lion for Hana- Bi. He has continued to make films that get world wide release. This film is a playful examination of his career.

It begins with a dummy/doll being examined for an ECT. During the film Kitano and the doll interchange. There is also a voice-over commenting on the current films that he has made, and it starts with a gangster sequence with a massacre and a comment that he promised not to make this kind of film again. What follows is a number of spoofs on the various types of films popular in Japan in the recent years. He tries his hand at a romance - but it is rather boring. He imitates the style of the celebrated Ozu - and this is also boring. He tries his hand at a horror film and it is quite effective. He does some martial arts in the crouching tiger vein and sends them up.

He also tries something with special effects and also a space film- at this the film veers towards a particularly Japanese audience where he draws on his audience's knowledge of comedy styles in Japan, Kitano’s own television programmes and characters. Much of this is lost on a non-Japanese audience and does not seem particularly funny. This goes on for quite a long time with some comic characters, especially a mother and daughter who want to marry the hero, are angry with the doll and burn him, and find themselves in the midst of crises.

Kitano himself appears in all these films under various guises - and his deadpan appearance is quite suitable to the kinds of spoofs and comedies that he presents. However, it is a film for Japanese audiences - and for those who are following the career of Kitano.

1. The reputation and career of Takeshi Kitano?

2. His films for a Japanese audience, universal audience? The reference to his films here? His career as a stand-up comedian? Television compere? Using the traditions of Japanese comedy?

3. The opening, the ECG examination of the doll? The doll throughout the film - as a representation of Kitano? His real appearances and the interchange?

4. The variety of styles in the film: his tribute to and imitation of various styles in Japan's cinema history: his own violent films and the shootout, the representation of the Ozu-type film and commenting that it was boring, the romantic film - and it not being satisfying, his variation on the horror genre, the martial arts and the spoofing of the stunts? CGI, space epics? The comic long story? His skill in parodying all the genres? And his presence in them?

5. The voice-over, the comment on his career, producers' expectations, the audience? The Japanese film industry? And his place - and trying to be creative?

6. The entertaining parodies? His skill in making them authentic? A comment on Japanese audience tastes?

7. The story of the women, the mother and daughter, eating the noodles, their complaints, the violent reaction to complainants? Their meek response? The later experience of noodles and their not liking them?

8. The story of the women, their travels, what they represented? The encounters? The marriage plans? The encounters with the doll, with the real Kitano? The build-up to the visit to the countryside, the parents working in the countryside, the reaction to the marriage, the marriage ceremony itself, the women working in the fields - planning their escape? Their getaway?

9. The blend of realism, fantasy and comedy? The reliance of Japanese audiences understanding the styles and the humour?

10. A film for movie buffs, fans of Kitano - and Japanese audiences?