WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.000 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Okay, today we 00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:06.580 are going to try and solve a puzzle. I want you 00:00:06.580 --> 00:00:10.560 to picture a man. On one screen, he's in this 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:14.300 ridiculous oversized costume running a slapstick 00:00:14.300 --> 00:00:17.370 game show. You know the one... Contestants just 00:00:17.370 --> 00:00:19.949 face planting into mud pits. Getting pummeled 00:00:19.949 --> 00:00:22.370 by giant foam boulders. We all know it. Yeah, 00:00:22.410 --> 00:00:24.690 you probably know him as Vic Romano from Most 00:00:24.690 --> 00:00:26.769 Extreme Elimination Challenge. Or the Lord of 00:00:26.769 --> 00:00:28.690 Takeshi's Castle if you're a purist. Exactly. 00:00:28.690 --> 00:00:33.210 The loud, rude, just, the physical embodiment 00:00:33.210 --> 00:00:36.009 of lowbrow comedy. But then you turn your head 00:00:36.009 --> 00:00:39.009 to a second screen. And there, the exact same 00:00:39.009 --> 00:00:40.890 man is being hailed as one of the world's greatest 00:00:40.890 --> 00:00:43.270 arthouse film directors. He's winning the Golden 00:00:43.270 --> 00:00:46.229 Lion in Venice. Critics are whispering his name 00:00:46.229 --> 00:00:48.890 in the same breath as Akira Kurosawa. It is, 00:00:48.929 --> 00:00:51.350 I think, one of the most jarring disconnects 00:00:51.350 --> 00:00:53.409 in all of entertainment history. We are talking, 00:00:53.450 --> 00:00:55.810 of course, about Takeshi Kitano. Also known by 00:00:55.810 --> 00:00:58.289 his stage name, Beat Takeshi. Right. And he's, 00:00:58.289 --> 00:01:01.670 what, 79 years old now, born back in 1947? And 00:01:01.670 --> 00:01:05.230 still working, which is just incredible. So our 00:01:05.230 --> 00:01:08.409 mission today is to really unpack this, this 00:01:08.409 --> 00:01:10.769 duality. We've got a massive stack of sources 00:01:10.769 --> 00:01:14.290 here. biographies film records critical analysis 00:01:14.290 --> 00:01:18.189 from you know both japan and the west yeah we 00:01:18.189 --> 00:01:20.780 need to figure out how a college dropout who 00:01:20.780 --> 00:01:23.019 started as an elevator operator in a strip club, 00:01:23.180 --> 00:01:25.439 ends up a commander of the Order of the Arts 00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:27.519 and Letters of France. And the sources, they 00:01:27.519 --> 00:01:30.560 point to a very specific and kind of a dark narrative 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:32.980 arc. We're going to look at how a near -fatal 00:01:32.980 --> 00:01:35.719 accident didn't just injure him, but it actually 00:01:35.719 --> 00:01:38.620 constructed his artistic voice. It's a fascinating 00:01:38.620 --> 00:01:41.599 look at trauma and creativity. Let's start at 00:01:41.599 --> 00:01:43.540 the very beginning, because you don't just wake 00:01:43.540 --> 00:01:45.879 up one day as a dual -threat legend. You have 00:01:45.879 --> 00:01:47.719 to look at where he came from. Adachi, Tokyo. 00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:51.019 Late 1940s. Right. And context is absolutely 00:01:51.019 --> 00:01:53.439 key here. Adachi in the post -war era. I mean, 00:01:53.459 --> 00:01:55.340 this was not the high society district of Tokyo. 00:01:55.459 --> 00:01:58.019 Right. It was working class. Rough and tumble. 00:01:58.219 --> 00:02:00.560 And the sources highlight something really interesting 00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:03.180 about Kitano's childhood. He said in his neighborhood, 00:02:03.239 --> 00:02:05.219 you really only had two role models, which were 00:02:05.219 --> 00:02:09.780 baseball players or the Yakuza. Wow. That is 00:02:09.780 --> 00:02:11.919 a stark choice. You either play sports or you 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:13.919 join organized crime. It speaks to the limited 00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:17.460 horizons of that time, that place. And Kitano's 00:02:17.460 --> 00:02:19.800 own household, it kind of reflected that tension. 00:02:20.020 --> 00:02:23.020 His father was a house painter, Kikujiro Kitano. 00:02:23.159 --> 00:02:25.879 Okay. But Takeshi described him as a man who 00:02:25.879 --> 00:02:29.479 lived like a Yakuza. Meaning what exactly? Like, 00:02:29.500 --> 00:02:32.520 was he actually in a gang? Probably not officially, 00:02:32.680 --> 00:02:35.060 but it means he was rough. Probably a heavy drinker, 00:02:35.060 --> 00:02:38.319 a gambler. He lived on the edge. But his mother... 00:02:38.509 --> 00:02:42.110 Saki was the complete opposite. A strict disciplinarian. 00:02:42.129 --> 00:02:44.830 And an educator. She was pushing hard for education 00:02:44.830 --> 00:02:47.310 as the way out. She did not want him ending up 00:02:47.310 --> 00:02:49.569 a painter or a gangster. And for a while it worked, 00:02:49.669 --> 00:02:51.729 right? He was smart. Oh, very smart. He gets 00:02:51.729 --> 00:02:54.169 into Meiji University to study engineering. Which 00:02:54.169 --> 00:02:56.430 is a huge deal. That's a prestigious path. He 00:02:56.430 --> 00:02:59.750 was set. He was. But this is where the beat Takeshi 00:02:59.750 --> 00:03:01.930 personality starts to, you know, bleed through. 00:03:02.289 --> 00:03:05.229 The engineering life was just too rigid. At 19, 00:03:05.370 --> 00:03:08.159 he drops out. Just walks away. Walks away from 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:10.479 engineering and moves to the Asakusa district 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:14.740 in 1972. Now, Asakusa at that time was the heart 00:03:14.740 --> 00:03:17.259 of the entertainment underground. Comedy, theater, 00:03:17.520 --> 00:03:20.680 strip clubs. The whole bohemian underbelly. And 00:03:20.680 --> 00:03:23.199 this is where the legend starts. He gets a job 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:25.340 at the Francesa Strip Club. But not on stage, 00:03:25.479 --> 00:03:27.680 right? Not yet. No, no. He's the elevator operator. 00:03:27.919 --> 00:03:30.360 The elevator boy. He's literally pressing buttons. 00:03:31.139 --> 00:03:34.199 But he's in the environment. And that's where 00:03:34.199 --> 00:03:36.979 he becomes an apprentice to this comedian, Senzaburo 00:03:36.979 --> 00:03:39.500 Fukami. He's just soaking it all in. A timing, 00:03:39.580 --> 00:03:41.800 the rhythm of it all. Exactly. And eventually 00:03:41.800 --> 00:03:44.620 he moves from the elevator to being the theater's 00:03:44.620 --> 00:03:46.840 emcee. And that leads to the formation of Two 00:03:46.840 --> 00:03:48.599 Beat. This is where the name comes from, Beat 00:03:48.599 --> 00:03:51.979 Takeshi. Precisely. In the 70s, he teams up with 00:03:51.979 --> 00:03:55.050 a friend, Kiyoshi Kaneko. They become 2Beat, 00:03:55.050 --> 00:03:57.789 Beat Takeshi, and Beat Kiyoshi. And they performed 00:03:57.789 --> 00:04:00.490 a style called manzai. Okay, let's pause on manzai 00:04:00.490 --> 00:04:02.449 because for anyone who hasn't fallen down that 00:04:02.449 --> 00:04:04.129 YouTube rabbit hole, it's not stand -up like 00:04:04.129 --> 00:04:06.210 we think of it in the West. Not at all. It's 00:04:06.210 --> 00:04:09.229 very different. Manzai is this traditional style 00:04:09.229 --> 00:04:12.150 with a duo performing incredibly high -speed 00:04:12.150 --> 00:04:15.349 banter. It's almost rhythmic. Like jazz. Yeah, 00:04:15.430 --> 00:04:17.430 that's a good way to put it. You have two archetypes. 00:04:17.449 --> 00:04:19.589 There's the tsukomi, the straight man. That was 00:04:19.589 --> 00:04:22.089 Kiyoshi. And then you have the book, the funny 00:04:22.089 --> 00:04:24.829 man, the fool. And that was Takeshi. That was 00:04:24.829 --> 00:04:28.009 Takeshi. Think Abbott and Costello, but on Fast 00:04:28.009 --> 00:04:30.490 Forward. And with a lot more aggression, from 00:04:30.490 --> 00:04:32.649 what I've read. A lot more. And this is why they 00:04:32.649 --> 00:04:35.009 blew up. It wasn't just the speed, it was the 00:04:35.009 --> 00:04:39.509 content. The sources all emphasize that his material 00:04:39.509 --> 00:04:42.209 was way more risque than traditional man's eye. 00:04:42.329 --> 00:04:45.550 How so? Was he just, like, swearing more? It 00:04:45.550 --> 00:04:47.430 was more about who he was targeting. He was going 00:04:47.430 --> 00:04:50.009 after the socially vulnerable. Like who? The 00:04:50.009 --> 00:04:53.449 elderly, children, the arrogant, the poor. It 00:04:53.449 --> 00:04:55.170 was punching down in a way that was shocking 00:04:55.170 --> 00:04:58.310 for the time. But you have to remember the context. 00:04:58.970 --> 00:05:01.629 This is the comedy boom of the 70s and 80s. Japan 00:05:01.629 --> 00:05:03.910 is modernizing. There's a lot of pressure to 00:05:03.910 --> 00:05:06.810 be polite, conform. And Kitano was the release 00:05:06.810 --> 00:05:08.430 valve. He was saying the things you just were 00:05:08.430 --> 00:05:10.970 not supposed to say. He was the bad boy, a punk 00:05:10.970 --> 00:05:13.310 rock comedian. And the broadcasters must have 00:05:13.310 --> 00:05:15.329 loved that. They were flooded with complaints. 00:05:15.610 --> 00:05:18.170 They were censoring him constantly. He actually 00:05:18.170 --> 00:05:21.300 mentions in an interview. He was banned from 00:05:21.300 --> 00:05:23.959 NHK Studios, the national public broadcaster, 00:05:24.120 --> 00:05:27.439 for five years. Five years? What do you have 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:29.720 to do to get a five -year ban? He exposed his 00:05:29.720 --> 00:05:32.019 body during a show when it was, you know, strictly 00:05:32.019 --> 00:05:34.199 forbidden. Okay, so he's physically crossing 00:05:34.199 --> 00:05:37.379 the line now, not just verbally. He was completely 00:05:37.379 --> 00:05:40.540 unpredictable. And because of this controversy, 00:05:40.779 --> 00:05:43.439 or maybe in spite of it, he becomes one of the 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:47.160 big three television comedians in Japan. He is 00:05:47.160 --> 00:05:49.949 a superstar. But the sources are clear. This 00:05:49.949 --> 00:05:52.529 volatility wasn't just an act. Right. The Friday 00:05:52.529 --> 00:05:55.149 magazine incident in 1986. This sounds like something 00:05:55.149 --> 00:05:57.189 out of one of his movies. It really does. So 00:05:57.189 --> 00:05:59.709 Shridey, a tabloid, accuses him of an affair. 00:06:00.110 --> 00:06:02.389 Normally, a celebrity denies it, maybe sues. 00:06:02.470 --> 00:06:05.750 Not Kitano. Kitano gathers his crew, his entourage. 00:06:06.170 --> 00:06:08.389 and physically storms the editorial office of 00:06:08.389 --> 00:06:10.449 the magazine. He attacked the journalists. It 00:06:10.449 --> 00:06:12.470 was a physical confrontation. Right. An assault. 00:06:12.610 --> 00:06:14.970 It became a huge legal incident. He was arrested. 00:06:15.310 --> 00:06:18.430 It just shows that the anger, the violence, it 00:06:18.430 --> 00:06:20.769 was simmering right under the surface. This was 00:06:20.769 --> 00:06:22.790 not just a character. And yet while all this 00:06:22.790 --> 00:06:25.250 chaos is happening, he's hosting Takeshi's castle. 00:06:25.389 --> 00:06:27.930 The most slapstick thing imaginable, it's that 00:06:27.930 --> 00:06:31.290 jarring duality again. By the late 80s, if you're 00:06:31.290 --> 00:06:35.019 in Japan, Geet Takeshi is the clown. The loud, 00:06:35.180 --> 00:06:38.699 rude, violent, hilarious clown. So here's the 00:06:38.699 --> 00:06:41.680 central core of this whole deep dive. How on 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:44.939 earth does the clown become the auteur? The leap 00:06:44.939 --> 00:06:47.680 from Takeshi's castle to serious contemplative 00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:50.639 cinema just seems impossible. Well, it wasn't 00:06:50.639 --> 00:06:52.759 a planned transition. The sources suggest it 00:06:52.759 --> 00:06:54.639 was a series of accidents and pivots. It started 00:06:54.639 --> 00:06:57.259 with acting. Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, 1983. 00:06:57.839 --> 00:07:00.759 Directed by the legendary Nagisa Oshima, a very 00:07:00.759 --> 00:07:03.019 heavy film. With David Bowie, no less. Exactly. 00:07:03.240 --> 00:07:06.259 Kitano played a tough POW camp sergeant, and 00:07:06.259 --> 00:07:08.759 he took the role very, very seriously. He thought 00:07:08.759 --> 00:07:10.379 he gave this gripping, dramatic performance. 00:07:10.779 --> 00:07:13.660 But there's this really heartbreaking anecdote 00:07:13.660 --> 00:07:15.379 about what happened when the movie came out. 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:17.819 It's the movie theater story. I read this, and 00:07:17.819 --> 00:07:21.139 it's just painful. It is. Kitano sneaks into 00:07:21.139 --> 00:07:23.399 a theater to see the film. Right. He wants to 00:07:23.399 --> 00:07:25.620 see the audience accept him as a serious actor. 00:07:25.720 --> 00:07:27.920 He's sitting there in the dark. And when his 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:30.899 face first appears on screen. The audience burst 00:07:30.899 --> 00:07:33.839 out laughing. The entire theater. It just shatters 00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:36.459 the suspension of disbelief. They couldn't separate 00:07:36.459 --> 00:07:38.839 the face from the clown. They saw a beat Takeshi, 00:07:38.899 --> 00:07:41.639 not the character. Devastating. So how did he 00:07:41.639 --> 00:07:45.300 react to that? He was crushed. But that trauma 00:07:45.300 --> 00:07:47.860 motivated him. He vowed that if he was going 00:07:47.860 --> 00:07:50.100 to act again, he had to go for serious, dark 00:07:50.100 --> 00:07:52.959 characters to just forcefully break that mold. 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:55.660 But the real shift, the one to directing, that 00:07:55.660 --> 00:07:58.560 happened almost by accident. 1989, a movie called 00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:01.120 Violent Cop. Great title. Does what it says on 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:03.339 the tin. Originally, the veteran director, Kenji 00:08:03.339 --> 00:08:05.360 Fukasaku, was supposed to direct it. And Kitano 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:07.920 was just starring. Right. But Fukasaku had a 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:10.839 scheduling conflict, specifically with Kitano's 00:08:10.839 --> 00:08:13.689 crazy TV schedule. So the distributor basically 00:08:13.689 --> 00:08:15.930 shrugged and said, why don't you direct it? Just 00:08:15.930 --> 00:08:18.910 like that. Hey, funny man, here's a camera. That 00:08:18.910 --> 00:08:21.209 sounds like a recipe for disaster. It should 00:08:21.209 --> 00:08:23.810 have been. But Kitano completely rewrote the 00:08:23.810 --> 00:08:26.110 script. And this is where we see the birth of 00:08:26.110 --> 00:08:28.529 his style. Because he didn't know the rules of 00:08:28.529 --> 00:08:30.410 filmmaking. He just ignored them. And what was 00:08:30.410 --> 00:08:32.539 so different? What was the style? It was the 00:08:32.539 --> 00:08:35.139 pacing. He used these long, long takes where 00:08:35.139 --> 00:08:37.639 almost nothing happens. Minimal camera movement. 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:39.960 Most action movies back then were all about fast 00:08:39.960 --> 00:08:42.399 cuts creating excitement. Kitano would just let 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:45.620 the camera stare. It's that deadpan thing. It 00:08:45.620 --> 00:08:47.620 creates this uncomfortable tension. Exactly. 00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:50.820 Near stasis. And then, out of nowhere, boom. 00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:54.080 Explosive violence. Then an immediate cut to 00:08:54.080 --> 00:08:57.480 the aftermath. It was bleak, unique, and had 00:08:57.480 --> 00:08:59.820 this strange, dry humor. He's stumbling into 00:08:59.820 --> 00:09:03.210 brilliance. But then we hit 1994, and the sources 00:09:03.210 --> 00:09:05.409 all frame this as the absolute turning point. 00:09:05.490 --> 00:09:09.190 August 1994. The scooter accident. And this wasn't 00:09:09.190 --> 00:09:11.049 just a minor crash. No, it was catastrophic. 00:09:11.389 --> 00:09:14.149 He was riding a motor scooter, drunk, crashed, 00:09:14.529 --> 00:09:17.129 suffered severe head injuries. It caused partial 00:09:17.129 --> 00:09:18.769 paralysis on the right side of his face. And 00:09:18.769 --> 00:09:20.509 the most chilling part is how he described it 00:09:20.509 --> 00:09:22.970 later. He called it an unconscious suicide attempt. 00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:25.679 Which connects right back to that volatility, 00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:27.759 the anger we talked about. It does. It suggests 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:29.879 he was pushing himself to the absolute brink. 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:33.259 But here's where the artist adapts. That paralysis. 00:09:33.539 --> 00:09:36.080 It became his greatest acting asset. It froze 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:39.059 his expression into this unreadable, crooked 00:09:39.059 --> 00:09:42.080 mask. So the deadpan style became a physical 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:45.320 reality. Literally. In his future gangster roles, 00:09:45.419 --> 00:09:47.179 you could not tell what he was thinking because 00:09:47.179 --> 00:09:49.789 half his face wasn't moving. It made him terrifying. 00:09:50.049 --> 00:09:52.649 It adds this layer of nihilism you just can't 00:09:52.649 --> 00:09:54.850 fake. You look at him and you see someone who's 00:09:54.850 --> 00:09:56.730 looked death in the face. So he survives the 00:09:56.730 --> 00:09:59.070 crash. He's in recovery. And this is when he 00:09:59.070 --> 00:10:01.149 picks up the paintbrush. Yeah. During his recovery, 00:10:01.210 --> 00:10:03.409 he takes a painting. And he's painting these 00:10:03.409 --> 00:10:07.210 strange chimeras heads of flowers on the bodies 00:10:07.210 --> 00:10:09.789 of animals. And these paintings aren't just therapy. 00:10:09.889 --> 00:10:12.590 They become the visual soul of his comeback film. 00:10:12.730 --> 00:10:16.679 Hanabi, Fireworks in 1997. Right. And those paintings 00:10:16.679 --> 00:10:19.200 are in the movie. The main character visits a 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:22.120 paralyzed friend who has taken up painting. It's 00:10:22.120 --> 00:10:25.120 deeply autobiographical, and Hanabi is a masterpiece. 00:10:25.460 --> 00:10:29.039 It's violent, sad, beautiful. And it wins the 00:10:29.039 --> 00:10:31.059 Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Which 00:10:31.059 --> 00:10:34.159 is a huge deal. That's the top prize. He's only 00:10:34.159 --> 00:10:36.240 the third Japanese director to win it, after 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:39.259 Kurosawa and Inagaki. And Kitano said that was 00:10:39.259 --> 00:10:41.740 the moment. That was when he felt Japan finally 00:10:41.740 --> 00:10:44.299 accepted him as a serious director, not just 00:10:44.299 --> 00:10:46.860 a celebrity with a hobby. Amazing that he had 00:10:46.860 --> 00:10:49.440 to go to Italy to get respect at home. But that's 00:10:49.440 --> 00:10:51.639 often the way, isn't it? The Japanese audience 00:10:51.639 --> 00:10:54.360 had too much baggage with Takeshi's Castle. The 00:10:54.360 --> 00:10:56.259 international audience just saw the film for 00:10:56.259 --> 00:10:59.299 what it was. So now he's a renaissance man. And 00:10:59.299 --> 00:11:02.259 in the 2000s, he starts bending genres even more. 00:11:02.460 --> 00:11:05.379 Right. In 2000, we get Battle Royale. A classic. 00:11:05.460 --> 00:11:07.419 I feel like everyone watched a bootleg of this 00:11:07.419 --> 00:11:10.100 in college. It was a cultural phenomenon. Teenagers 00:11:10.100 --> 00:11:12.639 forced to kill each other. Kitano plays the teacher, 00:11:12.799 --> 00:11:16.200 the facilitator. And he brought that menacing, 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:19.279 bored gravity to the role. He's the adult who 00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:21.980 has just completely given up on kids. And then, 00:11:22.039 --> 00:11:24.240 just to keep everyone guessing, he pulls a pivot 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:28.659 in 2003 with Zachichi. The Blind Swordsman. This 00:11:28.659 --> 00:11:32.120 was a massive risk. Zachichi was a sacred character 00:11:32.120 --> 00:11:35.419 in Japan. It's like remaking James Bond but changing 00:11:35.419 --> 00:11:38.279 his whole vibe. Kitano did it, but he dyed his 00:11:38.279 --> 00:11:41.460 hair blonde. A blonde samurai. unheard of. It 00:11:41.460 --> 00:11:44.500 broke historical accuracy completely. But Kitano 00:11:44.500 --> 00:11:47.220 said he made Zachichi to plaz others, to prove 00:11:47.220 --> 00:11:49.059 he could make a pure entertainment blockbuster 00:11:49.059 --> 00:11:51.820 if he wanted to. Basically saying, I can do what 00:11:51.820 --> 00:11:54.440 Hollywood does, I just choose not to. And it 00:11:54.440 --> 00:11:56.960 worked. It was his biggest box office success. 00:11:57.240 --> 00:11:59.779 And he won the Silver Lion at Venice for directing 00:11:59.779 --> 00:12:01.759 it, just to keep the trophy shelf full. So, uh, 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:04.440 but speaking of not pleasing others, we have 00:12:04.440 --> 00:12:06.720 to talk about the video games. This is where 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:09.340 his troll persona really comes out. Oh, yeah. 00:12:09.870 --> 00:12:12.730 Back in 1986, he designed a game called Takeshi's 00:12:12.730 --> 00:12:15.049 Challenge. And this game is legendary for being 00:12:15.049 --> 00:12:17.750 terrible. It's famously awful. It was ranked 00:12:17.750 --> 00:12:20.809 number one in a magazine's Kusoji ranking, which 00:12:20.809 --> 00:12:23.470 literally means shit game. The mechanics were 00:12:23.470 --> 00:12:25.990 confusing. The difficulty was unfair. How unfair 00:12:25.990 --> 00:12:27.509 are we talking? There's a part where you have 00:12:27.509 --> 00:12:29.409 to hold a button down for an hour. 60 minutes. 00:12:29.649 --> 00:12:32.809 Or use the controller microphone to sing karaoke. 00:12:33.090 --> 00:12:35.440 Mess up, you start over. It's considered one 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:37.559 of the worst games ever made. But knowing him 00:12:37.559 --> 00:12:40.200 now, that feels intentional. Oh, it absolutely 00:12:40.200 --> 00:12:42.799 feels like performance art. He was testing the 00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:46.139 audience. But then, 30 years later... He returns 00:12:46.139 --> 00:12:50.679 to games in Yakuza 6. A huge, serious franchise. 00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:54.220 He provided his voice and likeness for a serious 00:12:54.220 --> 00:12:57.299 role, the full circle moment. It shows he never 00:12:57.299 --> 00:12:59.960 really leaves a medium behind. He just re -engages 00:12:59.960 --> 00:13:02.039 on his own terms. And we see that with Hollywood 00:13:02.039 --> 00:13:04.179 too. Johnny Mnemonic, Ghost in the Shell. Which 00:13:04.179 --> 00:13:06.399 is funny because he's gone on record saying he 00:13:06.399 --> 00:13:09.139 hates anime and manga. Wait, really? He dislikes 00:13:09.139 --> 00:13:11.399 the medium but takes a role in one of the biggest 00:13:11.399 --> 00:13:14.019 anime adaptations ever? He said he took the role 00:13:14.019 --> 00:13:16.220 in Ghost in the Shell. Because he liked the character's 00:13:16.220 --> 00:13:19.840 peculiar vibe. He's not driven by fandom. He's 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:22.139 driven by what interests him. If he likes the 00:13:22.139 --> 00:13:24.460 vibe, he does it. He just does whatever he wants. 00:13:24.700 --> 00:13:26.980 Pretty much. In recent years, he returned to 00:13:26.980 --> 00:13:30.039 Yakuza films with the Outrage trilogy. But even 00:13:30.039 --> 00:13:32.799 there, he said he added way more dialogue, describing 00:13:32.799 --> 00:13:35.019 it as feeling like a nature documentary where 00:13:35.019 --> 00:13:36.639 you're just watching creatures kill each other. 00:13:36.779 --> 00:13:39.700 A nature documentary of gangsters. I love that. 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:42.399 It strips away the morality. It fits his worldview. 00:13:42.919 --> 00:13:45.570 Bleak. but fascinating so let's bring this all 00:13:45.570 --> 00:13:48.190 together we have a man who started as an elevator 00:13:48.190 --> 00:13:51.649 boy becomes the funniest rudest man in japan 00:13:51.649 --> 00:13:56.070 gets banned from tv crashes a motorcycle in a 00:13:56.070 --> 00:13:59.110 near suicidal incident reinvents himself as a 00:13:59.110 --> 00:14:02.330 silent violent film director and ends up a commander 00:14:02.330 --> 00:14:04.110 of the order of the arts and letters of france 00:14:04.110 --> 00:14:06.690 it's a trajectory that shouldn't be possible 00:14:07.159 --> 00:14:09.399 What's amazing is that he still maintains the 00:14:09.399 --> 00:14:11.840 Beat Takeshi persona for TV. He's still doing 00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:14.340 variety shows. But Takeshi Kitano, the director, 00:14:14.419 --> 00:14:16.600 is this completely separate entity. It's not 00:14:16.600 --> 00:14:19.080 a transition. It's a coexistence. Exactly. He 00:14:19.080 --> 00:14:20.940 didn't stop being the clown to become the artist. 00:14:21.059 --> 00:14:23.419 He is both at the same time. So here's the final 00:14:23.419 --> 00:14:24.960 thought I want to leave you with. We live in 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:27.879 an era of, you know, hyper curated personal brands. 00:14:28.059 --> 00:14:30.519 Everyone tries to be one consistent thing. Kitano 00:14:30.519 --> 00:14:33.860 just destroys that idea. He refuses to be categorized. 00:14:33.980 --> 00:14:36.759 So the question is, is his ability to be two 00:14:36.759 --> 00:14:39.440 completely contradictory things, the fool and 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:41.460 the philosopher, the ultimate act of artistic 00:14:41.460 --> 00:14:44.639 freedom, or is the violent silence of his films 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:47.059 just the other side of the same coin as his manic 00:14:47.059 --> 00:14:49.580 comedy? Is the silence just the noise turned 00:14:49.580 --> 00:14:51.559 inside out? That's the question. Something to 00:14:51.559 --> 00:14:54.120 chew on. That's it for this deep dive into the 00:14:54.120 --> 00:14:56.440 two faces of Takeshi Kitano. Thanks for listening. 00:14:56.600 --> 00:14:56.879 Thank you.