Takeshis' (2005)

A different way of telling a story

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

The big star of the Japanese gangster movies Takeshi Kitano takes a break to make a very different film, half fantasy, half dark comedy making fun of ... himself and of the Japanese cinema system, American films influence, and the film fans culture of fascination with their stars. Takeshi dominates the movie in the double role of himself, the famous actor and himself, the failed clown he could have become if his life hah taken a different turn. There are several layers this film can be read, but at its core are the about 30 minutes of surrealist dreams in which the failed actor fixes his life on an alternate violent and grotesque style. This is where the film fails, as Kitano the director is neither Fellini or Kurosawa, nor a David Lynch with enough imagination for his dream world to represent a true screen alternative to the real (?) life of his screen star alter ego. The film is a nice try, and Kitano aficionados will certainly love all its nuances and connections to the actor's career, but it does not stand strong enough as an original creation.

TAKESHIS' I have been thinking about what exactly the apostrophe in the title is doing.An apostrophe is used to indicate the omission of a letter or letters from a word, the possessive case, or the plurals of numbers, letters, and abbreviations. To have a plural of "Takeshi", you just add an "s". To show that Takeshi owns something, you would simply write "Takeshi's thing". Therefore, the title "Takeshis'" would be the possessive of the plural "Takeshis".Perhaps the title isn't (incorrectly) denoting a plural, but actually means that this film belongs to "more than one Takeshi"? It belongs to all of Takeshi's personas, and characters. It COULD just be another example of misuse of the poor apostrophe, but maybe Takeshi studied hard at school, and has dedicated this self-parody to himself, and his own multiplicity.That being said, he reportably not all of the Takeshis are happy, as one was reportably quoted as saying: "Today I saw the film again and it's terrible. 'Who the hell made this?' I thought to myself. I set out to make a strange, groundbreaking film, and I think it succeeds, but it feels like I made a car that was so fast I couldn't drive it and fell out. If I win the Grand Prix, it must mean I'm nearing death, so I don't need it. This period is over. Next time I'm going to make an orthodox film in the style of the masters and then maybe I'll win." I think he was being too hard on himself (himselves?), but perhaps it never ends for an artists such as him (them?).OK, enough with the plural jokes, and they probably only amuse me anyway. I just finished watching the film. It had been sitting on my shelf for a while, and I needed to relax after a frustrating mêlée in Half-Life 2 (Nova Prospekt!). I had intentionally read as little as I could about this film beforehand, and I had almost no idea what to expect when the film began. However, I instantly knew that I was watching a Takeshi Kitano film - the unmistakable style of the director completely permeates this film. Besides, there was a big blue "K" at the start.This film is like some kind of flushing out of Kitano's creative musings. It is surreal and dreamlike, free form, and has some fantastic images and compositions. The film is almost totally devoid of complex narrative, and is instead experimental and perhaps introspective for the director. Perhaps this is what his dreams are like, and if he means what he said above, maybe this film is the end of an era - the final digestive process before moving on to the next creative banquet.I truly respect Kitano for his bold creativity in film. He seems to attack it as he does his painting. He creates for himself, and I am sure whatever his next project is, it will be unmistakably his own.

Having seen a lot of Kitano Takeshi's work, one has to realize that this guy is totally hit and miss. Sonatine? Hit. Brother? Miss. Zaitochi? Hit. ? Miss. And then we have Takeshis, which I'm proud to say is probably the worst movie I've seen in a number of years. This film, about 2 Beat Takeshis! One the famous one, and one a failed actor. Both lead their respective lives, with one basking in the glow of his fame, and the other struggling to get by, But when the failed actor gets a hold of some weapons, he decides to become Takeshi the gangster, just like the movies! All this sounds incredibly neat, doesn't it? But the film is presented in such a jumbled mess and scenes and characters that don't make any sense until the last scenes of the film, and it's a total cheat. Make that a DOUBLE cheat, because there's two false endings in the film, both will make you groan, because they're the cheapest way to explain everything that happened. Kitano should be embarrassed with himself.

The film has a lot of potential, with tons of funny and impressive scenes and situations, characters who are made complete and alive with only a few brush strokes. It starts off as a wry satirical depiction of Japan's TV land and "Jollywood," and becomes increasingly surrealistic as it moves along (I'm using the word moves very loosely, as I couldn't see much plot development). It's Takeshi's 8 1/2, referencing a lot of the director/performer/producer's earlier work and showing his agony as artist and celebrity... There were also references to several classics (Scorcese's Taxi Driver comes to mind, for one) I'm only giving it a 4, as the last third of the film falls apart in a jumble of disjointed scenes, some of which remain too static too long.I felt that Takeshi's contained enough stuff for several enjoyable movies, but a lot of it went to waste and was repeated ad nauseam. I think viewers could have a better experience with this movie if they were prepared to sit back and relax, enjoying eye candy and little bits thrown on the screen. To expect a follow-able plot would be a big mistake!