Japan's Takeshi Kitano 'a bit embarrassed' as new film shows at Venice
06/09/2024 16:37
By Crispian Balmer
VENICE, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Japanese cult director
Takeshi Kitano said on Friday he was "a bit embarrassed" by his
new movie being premiered at Venice, explaining that he never
expected it to get seen at the prestigious film festival.
"Broken Rage" was commissioned by TV streamer Amazon and
runs at barely an hour with Kitano directing, writing and
starring in the picture.
It takes him back to his comic roots, with an initial spurt
of gangster violence soon giving way to slapstick humour as the
same crime story is told twice over -- once seriously and once
for laughs.
"I did not expect it to be presented at a festival like
this," Kitano told a news conference. "I don't know, I should
have done better. I should have been more serious about it," he
added, speaking through a translator.
Kitano, 77, is a darling of the film festival circuit and
won Venice's top honour, the coveted Golden Lion, in 1997 for
"Hana-Bi", or "Fireworks". His last film "Kubi", or "Neck", a
blood-splattered Samurai tale, was shown at Cannes last year.
He told reporters that his success in Europe had enabled him
to win recognition in his more conservative homeland, which did
not initially appreciate his switch from doing stand-up comedy
to directing big films.
"In Japan, we still have a sort of traditional view, a sort
of conservative approach. And therefore, I just enjoy being in
international festivals," he said, sporting purple-tinged hair.
Breaking the traditional film-making mould, "Broken Rage"
includes brief interludes of social media chat with people
commenting on the film in real time.
Kitano said the rapid-fire posts, which drew belly-laughs in
Venice, helped pad out the film and also connect the two halves.
"It's a way of filling up some gaps, like changing the
scenes, you know," he said, adding that he had thought the film
would run for longer than it did.
"The idea was good, but then I think that I was kind of
wrong in determining how long it should be," he said. "I thought
that I would have a very long film, and instead I ended up
having a pretty short film."
"Broken Rage", which also stars Tadanobu Asano and Nao
Ômori, is being shown out of competition in the Venice Film
Festival, which closes on Saturday.
(Reporting by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
((crispian.balmer@thomsonreuters.com;))