In the review below I shall refer to the real Takeshi in the film as Beat and the alter ego as Kitano. I shall call Kitano 'Takeshi' when I talk about Kitano directing the film.
Takeshis follows Beats alter ego named Kitano. Kitano looks a lot like the real Beat and he tries to become an actor himself, with no success.
Once Kitano meets Beat, Kitano becomes obsessed in becoming Beat. He dreams about it day and night. When he is once again rejected for a part he starts to practice his skills by impersonating the characters Beat played in his movie.
It's an awesome film, but very complex and hard to judge after a single viewing. And I think that without knowledge of his previous work the film is even less accessible then it already is.
Takeshi starts the use of flashbacks, flash-forwards, fantasy and reality structure at once. Therefor you're never quite sure if you are watching a flash-forward in reality or fantasy. It makes the film instantly confusing. Once you get in to the rhythm of the film it starts making sense. But even as a confusing film it is surprisingly funny. With loads of typical Takeshi humor and Getting Any or Kikujiro like sequences.
spoilers The film starts out with several sequences from Beat's films. Not real Takeshi films but films Beat played as an actor in the film. Laughing After that we follow Beat for a while. He goes to a studio where they are rehearsing a stage play. Here Beat meets Kitano we switch sides and start following Kitano. The alter ego of Beat who tries to become an actor.
Kitano dreams about being Beat and starts acting like the persons Beat played in his films. Double gunning all the persons down who where the cause he never got a part for an audition. After that, all those persons keep haunting him and Kitano keeps shooting them. After a magnificent dance scene ala Zatoichi the yakuza shows up again and another massacre follows, Kitano 'Beat'ing them down one by one until a final showdown at the beach.
In this extraordinary scene he sums up all his previous films in 1 big sequence. Starting poetic and extremely touching like Hana-bi and ending with a complete army of police, samurai and yakuza who all open fire at him. A magnificent action sequence not to be taken serious, or maybe you should. It is very hard to put in to words for I haven't figured it out myself yet.
end of spoilers Takeshis' goes trough so many genres and dreams within dreams that it's hard to figure out what is really going on. Even when the story itself is pretty simple. The execution is insane. Highly amusing but also haunting and irritating when you can't figure out why it is there in the first place. Some sequences also continue far too long but it has to be said, no one can stage a bloody shoot out like Kitano.
In the end it looks to me as if Takeshi tries to say that when you have everything as a star in Japan, people are trying to steel it from you. Or as Yoda would say: fame leads to jalousie, jalousie to greed and greed leads to suffering.
Rated: yesterday 3/5, today 4/5
Takeshis follows Beats alter ego named Kitano. Kitano looks a lot like the real Beat and he tries to become an actor himself, with no success.
Once Kitano meets Beat, Kitano becomes obsessed in becoming Beat. He dreams about it day and night. When he is once again rejected for a part he starts to practice his skills by impersonating the characters Beat played in his movie.
It's an awesome film, but very complex and hard to judge after a single viewing. And I think that without knowledge of his previous work the film is even less accessible then it already is.
Takeshi starts the use of flashbacks, flash-forwards, fantasy and reality structure at once. Therefor you're never quite sure if you are watching a flash-forward in reality or fantasy. It makes the film instantly confusing. Once you get in to the rhythm of the film it starts making sense. But even as a confusing film it is surprisingly funny. With loads of typical Takeshi humor and Getting Any or Kikujiro like sequences.
spoilers The film starts out with several sequences from Beat's films. Not real Takeshi films but films Beat played as an actor in the film. Laughing After that we follow Beat for a while. He goes to a studio where they are rehearsing a stage play. Here Beat meets Kitano we switch sides and start following Kitano. The alter ego of Beat who tries to become an actor.
Kitano dreams about being Beat and starts acting like the persons Beat played in his films. Double gunning all the persons down who where the cause he never got a part for an audition. After that, all those persons keep haunting him and Kitano keeps shooting them. After a magnificent dance scene ala Zatoichi the yakuza shows up again and another massacre follows, Kitano 'Beat'ing them down one by one until a final showdown at the beach.
In this extraordinary scene he sums up all his previous films in 1 big sequence. Starting poetic and extremely touching like Hana-bi and ending with a complete army of police, samurai and yakuza who all open fire at him. A magnificent action sequence not to be taken serious, or maybe you should. It is very hard to put in to words for I haven't figured it out myself yet.
end of spoilers Takeshis' goes trough so many genres and dreams within dreams that it's hard to figure out what is really going on. Even when the story itself is pretty simple. The execution is insane. Highly amusing but also haunting and irritating when you can't figure out why it is there in the first place. Some sequences also continue far too long but it has to be said, no one can stage a bloody shoot out like Kitano.
In the end it looks to me as if Takeshi tries to say that when you have everything as a star in Japan, people are trying to steel it from you. Or as Yoda would say: fame leads to jalousie, jalousie to greed and greed leads to suffering.
Rated: yesterday 3/5, today 4/5