Kitano's hopes for 2009: More animation and artists who break rules... maybe

by Chris MaGee

Jason Gray has posted a new commercial for the English language school ECC that features Takeshi Kitano. Besides 30-seconds of of Kitano shilling for ECC though the video also includes a brief interview with the comedian/ actor/ author/ director... and spokesperson. In it he discusses his love for animation and the possibility that we'll see a repeat of the brief animated sequence at the beginning of "Achilles and the Tortoise" that illustrates Greek philosopher Zeno's titular mathematical paradox. More animation in a Takeshi Kitano film? Couldn't hurt.

He also goes into how Japanese people have forgotten their proper roles, but then says that artists have lost their ability to break rules and "go against common sense" while creating their work. So... Kitano-san, it's been a long week... Are you saying that artists in Japan have forgotten their "role" as iconoclasts? Because wouldn't people breaking rules and going against common sense result in people abandoning their "roles"?

Enough of my nitpicking. Follow the link above to get your weekly dose of "Beat".