RANT: One step forward or two steps back? A new Takeshi Kitano jidai-geki film?

by Chris MaGee

Is it true that on the eve of the release of the final film in his loose deconstructionist trilogy that Takeshi Kitano is pondering a return to the safety of the jidai-geki genre? According to Jason Gray that's exactly what the award-winning director and Japanese media phenome has planned.

Just before hopping his flight to the Venice International Film Festival, where he famously took home the Golden Lion for his 1997 film "Hana-bi", Kitano admitted to reporters that the critics and press aren't as excited to see him at the big fests like Cannes and Venice as they used to be. Solution: return to the formula of his biggest commercial success, 2003's "Zatoichi"... but not really. No, Beat wants to create something unique, a "Kitano-style period film."

Don't get me wrong, I love Kitano; in fact I love him so much that this whole story leaves me very concerned in the same way that I would be if I heard that a loved one was going to make a potentially detrimental move just to play things safe. Let me explain.

I think that Kitano was just as surprised when he won the Golden Lion for "Hana-bi" as everyone else was, and I think on some level he bought into the hype and has been chasing the "great filmmaker" tag ever since. Films like Giuseppe Tornatore's "Cinema Paradiso" and Jan Svěrák's "Kolya" had won awards and praise, so let's give the critics a grumpy old man/ cute kid film like "Kikujiro". There's gold (golden statuettes) in those Hollywood hills, so let's go to America with "Brother". Maybe my films are to macho. Maybe I should go more art house, thus "Dolls". This is not to say that these films were failures at all (well, maybe "Brother" was), but that on some level Kitano's motivation was a desire for more praise, more awards, a seat at the table with the likes of Kurosawa, Ozu and Mizoguchi. Don't let Kitano's laissez-faire public persona fool you. You can't tell me that a guy who appears ever five minutes on Japanese TV doesn't just want to be loved.

Sure Kitano's last couple films have been difficult, self-referential and uncommercial, but it makes me a bit nervous that he would want to return to a film that may not be a sequel to "Zatoichi", but would be one cut from the same cloth just for a chance that the critics will applaud. Remember, "Zatoichi" wasn't a film that Kitano even wanted to make. He did it as a favour for Chieko Saitô, the long time friend of Shintaro Katsu. She wouldn't take no for an answer and kept on Kitano about resucitating the famous blind swordsman as a tribute to her late friend. Frankly, I think that "Zatoichi" was the second big surprise in Kitano's career, but why take two steps back in the hopes that you'll get a trophy?

Kitano-san, you are a great filmmaker. You have a place at the table with the greats; and not to trot out old adages and platitudes, but when a kid's getting beat up in the schoolyard sometimes it is true what Mom always used to say, "They only pick on you because they're jealous." Think about that for awhile.