Kitano Takeshi

Kitano Takeshi (born January 18, 1947, Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese actor, director, writer, and television personality who is known for his dexterity with both comedic and dramatic material.

Kitano was born into a working-class family in Tokyo. He planned to become an engineer but dropped out of college to enter show business in 1972. With his friend Kaneko Kyoshi, he formed a popular comedy team called the Two Beats, and Kitano would frequently act under the name Beat Takeshi. Performing first in nightclubs, the duo soon began to appear on Japanese television and quickly attracted a national following with their irreverent, sometimes off-colour routines. In the late 1970s Kitano embarked on a solo acting career. He starred in a television series called Super Superman and in several movies. In 1983 he appeared alongside David Bowie and Tom Conti in his first English-language film, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence.

In 1986 Kitano was arrested for breaking into the offices of a tabloid and assaulting staff members in a dispute over the veracity of claims that had been published about his personal life. That year he also began hosting the game show Takeshi’s Castle (1986–89), in which contestants were required to compete in a series of comical physical challenges. The show was broadcast internationally in a variety of condensed versions, usually with commentary mocking the contestants. Kitano made his directorial debut in 1989 with Sono otoko, kyōbō ni tsuki (Violent Cop), in which he also played the title role. The film, about a Tokyo detective trying to crack a yakuza (“gangster”)-run drug ring, drew comparisons to Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry (1971) and was the first in a series of crime epics that included 3–4x Jūgatsu (1990; Boiling Point) and Sonatine (1993). He also penned the screenplays for the films—though his work on Violent Cop was uncredited—and he wrote many of his subsequent movies.

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In 1994 Kitano was in a serious motorcycle accident that necessitated months of physical therapy. He rebounded with Hana-bi (1997; Fireworks), another tale of policemen and yakuza; the film was lauded for its deft blend of comic and tragic elements and for its innovative use of flashbacks. In addition to winning a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, it was also selected as the best non-European film by the European Film Academy in 1997.

In 2000 Kitano directed Brother, his first film with an English-speaking cast. That year Kitano also appeared in Batoru rowaiaru (Battle Royale), a futuristic thriller that stirred controversy in Japan with its tale of juvenile delinquents forced by authorities into deadly combat on a remote island. He later starred in its sequel, Batoru rowaiaru II: Chinkonka (2003; Battle Royale II: Requiem). Kitano abandoned his preoccupations with comedy and violence in Dolls (2002), which tells three separate love stories. In Zatōichi (2003; Zatōichi: The Blind Swordsman), he broke new ground with his first period piece, in which he played a legendary blind samurai.

In Takeshis’ (2005), which he also directed, Kitano parodied his public image as a star with a bloated ego, playing a version of himself as well as his own doppelgänger. He followed with two further films featuring incarnations of himself: Kantoku Banzai! (2007; Glory to the Filmmaker!) and Akiresu to kame (2008; Achilles and the Tortoise). Kitano contributed One Fine Day to Chacun son cinéma (2007; “To Each His Own Cinema”), a collection of short films in which the director of each segment attempted to articulate his feelings about cinema. He returned to the yakuza genre in 2010 with the ultraviolent Autoreiji (Outrage). The sequels Autoreiji Biyondo (Beyond Outrage) and Autoreiji Saishusho (Outrage Coda) appeared in 2012 and 2017, respectively.

In addition to hosting a range of television shows and immersing himself in the filmmaking process, Kitano was also a newspaper columnist and a stand-up comedian. He published several novels and a collection of short stories, Shounen (1992; Boy). Kitano wrote memoirs about several periods in his life, including Asakusa kiddo (1992; “Asakusa Kid”; filmed 2002), about his childhood in Tokyo.

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