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Achilles and the Tortoise

Achilles and the Tortoise (2008)

November. 03,2008
|
7.3
| Drama Comedy

Machisu is a painter. He never had the success he thinks he is entitled to. Regardless of this, he always remains trying to be successful. His wife Sachiko keeps supporting him, despite all setbacks.

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Reviews

Sexylocher
2008/11/03

Masterful Movie

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AshUnow
2008/11/04

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

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Sameer Callahan
2008/11/05

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

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Kimball
2008/11/06

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

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Hombredelfuturo
2008/11/07

The movie does not work in only one level; so it can be seen as a sampling of art, in this case: "painting"; from different viewpoints or dimensions. Good actors, humor Kitano style, the Japanese twisted style; however it is a mixture of 2 or 3 movies in one; changes radically from one part to another (the movie is not formally divided) and the only connection seems the art itself (that s not bad at all...) The first half has a coherent development of the script, good photography and shows us the protagonist as a school kid then as a young man. He, an almost autistic person that seems unaffected by the (good and bad) things that happen in his life. Perhaps the answer to why he continues to fail in his work. Failure to get emotionally involved in a way o another in such episodes or not take part physically or to be mentally affected by them, makes an artist that will not acquire the necessary skills (after assimilate and process its) to then translate them into his work; normally a way to say things or feelings of what a person (an artist) can not say in another way. We see a person who may have a natural talent for painting, or based on to paint and repetition developed good capabilities but do not know how to let out his own creative streak, which just ends up imitating the great painters or following great schools of painting in an evident level.-in a second part of the movie, changes completely and we see Kitano, fulfilling the lead role and with his rough style and Yakuza pose, this main character loses all silence and dedicating autism demanding constantly to his suffered side kick wife; dragging them in a not so good life. In this part the artist is showed like an "art junkie" There s kind of humor here and the shots are more TV like ones. The movie could be better or could be at least two movies...

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paul david
2008/11/08

I like different films especially from Japan and this fits the category, interesting from beginning to end, a sad film in my opinion but with lots of messages for art lovers if you look that deep into the story, a bit like Rembrandts 'Nightwatching'.Didn't quite get the ending but it didn't seem to matter. Gosh to have a wife like he had, so patient and supportive all his life but sad for the daughter who had to endure so much also all her life.The title is a stunning one. Okay the Tortoise is the pursuit of success but what is the Achilles, the inability over time to achieve that success? Good acting throughout but cant take it as a comedy with a western mind.

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dbborroughs
2008/11/09

This is the third part of Beat Takashi Kitano's trilogy about artists (especially Takashi himself) and the creative process. The first film was Takashis and was an off beat semi-autobiographical look at director Takashi. The second film in the series is Glory to the Filmmaker. It concerns a filmmaker trying to come up with a way of completing his latest film. As of this writing I haven't seen it.The last film in the sequence is this one, Achilles and the Tortoise.The plot of the film has young Machisu Kuramochi meeting an artist as a child. The artist is impressed by the boys work and gives him words of encouragement. From that point on the boy does nothing but paint, through school, through marriage, through happy times and sad. Art is all. Unfortunately he never really tastes any sort of success seemingly just behind the curve of the happening artists.To be honest I'm not sure what I think of the film. I'm not sure the story really hangs together. Essentially a three part film with three actors playing Machisu, one as a child, one as a young adult and Takashi himself playing the artist in middle age. Each part has a different feel. And the work as a whole left me feeling rather depressed.The early part of the film is a bit awkward as Michisu is "discovered" and then moves to live with an uncle when his family is broken up by bankruptcy. It the film feels unfinished.The second part of the film where our hero tries to sell his work, gets into art school and meets like minded people is a very funny destruction of artists and their drive for "art for arts sake".The last part of the film, where Takashi takes over, is a darkly funny look at the extremes some people go to create.This is a vicious destruction of "artists" and the world they exist in. Critics are savaged. Art dealers are shown for what they are. Artists and their attitudes are ridiculed. The public and its taste and ability to know what's good is roasted. It's a black comedy that leaves no one unhurt. Takashi lays waste to everyone and everything. Anyone in any sort of creative endeavor is torn apart.This isn't to say that Takashi is against art or creating. He isn't and its clear from watching him create on screen (all of the paintings in the film are his, a fact that creates a weird sense of reality since his own paintings are being judged as poor when compared to his own paintings) that he loves to create, he's just against the attitudes of those who take their art too seriously (he doesn't hence his deconstruction of his life and work over the three films) and those who criticize or market the art. The only thing spared is the joy of creation (though this is a cautionary tale about letting that get too far out of hand).I hope that Takashi enjoyed making the film, because I'm unsure about what to really say about it.To be certain Takashi hits his targets with deadly and hysterical accuracy all along the way, but in the end I don't know what it all means. I was left wondering what the point was and why I bothered to stay all the way to the end. Okay, yes I know the reason I stayed, the bits carried me to the end, but when I got there I was kind of left wanting and unsatisfied. Perhaps the lack of meaning is the point, but at the same time I don't know why it took me two hours to get there.Perhaps the films darkness and almost nihilism got to me. More than a fair number of people die both by their own hand and that of others (there is an undercurrent about suicide here). We also see the dark existence of some of the characters, for example Machisu's daughter becomes a prostitute to support her family. This is not a happy film despite the laughs. When it was over I was left in a very dark place.What does it mean? I don't think it means anything. After seeing the film last night I sat down at the computer and tried to see if I could glean anything from what other people. Out of the six or seven pieces I read I got six or seven different interpretations. Everyone had the film speak to them in differing ways. Good "art" speaks to each of us in our own way and by that definition this would be good art, but then again so does a muddled mess.Do I like the film? Yea, maybe, possibly. I like the bits. As a whole I'm not too sure. I don't think it all hangs together. For me its too mannered, too obviously constructed. I could pull it apart but I don't see the point. The films anti critical stance makes it a tough prospect (Though if I were to say something I'd say the first bit needs to be reworked. The middle section works and the final third needs to have an ending).I think the film is worth trying, especially once you get to the middle section. Its almost required for anyone who has ever tried to create anything and had to put up with the slings and arrows of people "who know better". Its an interesting misfire with moments of brilliance.Beyond that you're on your own. As for me I'm still pondering

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Chung Mo
2008/11/10

This should be required viewing for everyone in the "art" world. Kitano skewers global modern art culture and also makes fun of his own work.The story is simply of an artist from childhood to "middle age" (which seems to be around 62) as he tries to be a successful artist. He starts out as an untrained "primitive" but with a certain talent for texture and color. He is insulted at every turn while we get to see the "good" art by "masters" which are all really, really bad. Unfortunately the artist gets progressively worse as he takes advice from gallery owners on how to make his work "sellable", which it never is. Every time the work gets better, he's advised to go in a different direction. Many mildly humorous situations arise but the film isn't going for outright laughs most of the time. The scenes of the "middle aged" artist (played by Kitano) getting his supportive wife to make his art are very long, get progressively cruel (probably part of the point) and could have been cut down a little. The issue of autism isn't directly addressed but the character certainly exhibits symptoms.This is a very good film although a little long. It may not be as good to someone who has no experience with the art world of today. Kitano created all the art in this film, good and purposely bad.

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