Takeshis' (2005)

Beat Takeshi, a prominent actor, meets a lookalike named Kitano, who is a struggling actor, but after the meeting, Kitano's dreams take a violent, surreal turn.

Director:

Takeshi Kitano

Writer:

Takeshi Kitano

Stars:

Takeshi Kitano, Kotomi Kyôno, Kayoko Kishimoto

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Takeshi Kitano	...	Beat Takeshi / Mr. Kitano (as Beat Takeshi)
Kotomi Kyôno	...	Takeshi's Girl Friend / Kitano's Female Neighbor
Kayoko Kishimoto	...	Mahjong Parlor Woman / Audition Producer / Customer
Ren Ôsugi	...	Takeshi's Manager / Taxi Driver
Susumu Terajima	...	Takeshi's Friend / Kitano's Yakuza Neighbor
Tetsu Watanabe	...	TV Wardrobe Master / Noodle Cook / Audition Actor
Akihiro Miwa	...	Himself
Naomasa Musaka
Kôichi Ueda
Tsutomu Takeshige
Bîto Kiyoshi
Junya Takaki	...	Himself
Shôgo Kimura
Kanji Tsuda
Makoto Ashikawa

Storyline

Beat Takeshi lives the busy and sometimes surreal life of a showbiz celebrity. One day he meets his blond lookalike named Kitano, a shy convenience store cashier, who, still an unknown actor, is waiting for his big break. After their paths cross, Kitano seems to begin hallucinating about becoming Beat.

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Plot Keywords:

actor | repeated line | shoot | blood | woman shot | 

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Taglines:

500% Kitano - nothing to add!

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Spain] Official site [Japan]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

5 November 2005 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Fractal

Filming Locations:

Tokyo, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bandai Visual Company, Office Kitano, Tokyo FM Broadcasting Co.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Kitano conceived the idea during the shooting of Sonatine. Then called 'Fractals', the idea was to depict how an ordinary person's dreams would create an imaginative world, where the dream person's dream's would create another imaginative world and so on, going back and forth between his actions in reality and those in his imaginary worlds. The project was, for many reasons, put off throughout the years, until Kitano rewrote the storyline and made himself the protagonist.

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Quotes

[after Takeshi sees actor Akihiro Miwa in makeup]
Beat Takeshi: What a freak.

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Connections

Featured in H-X3c (2008)

User Reviews

brilliant ideas, little cohesion

The film has a lot of potential, with tons of funny and impressive scenes and situations, characters who are made complete and alive with only a few brush strokes. It starts off as a wry satirical depiction of Japan's TV land and "Jollywood," and becomes increasingly surrealistic as it moves along (I'm using the word moves very loosely, as I couldn't see much plot development). It's Takeshi's 8 1/2, referencing a lot of the director/performer/producer's earlier work and showing his agony as artist and celebrity... There were also references to several classics (Scorcese's Taxi Driver comes to mind, for one) I'm only giving it a 4, as the last third of the film falls apart in a jumble of disjointed scenes, some of which remain too static too long.

I felt that Takeshi's contained enough stuff for several enjoyable movies, but a lot of it went to waste and was repeated ad nauseam. I think viewers could have a better experience with this movie if they were prepared to sit back and relax, enjoying eye candy and little bits thrown on the screen. To expect a follow-able plot would be a big mistake!