Takeshis’ (2005)

The dual personality – or indeed many sides – of Takeshi Kitano is something that had been explored many times before, notably in Casio Abe’s 1994 book “Beat Takeshi vs. Takeshi Kitano”. And this was something which Kitano had been wanting to explore himself in a film for a while. The first in his self-referential “Takeshi Trilogy”, “Takeshis’” reflects an idea long in the making, but one that has become a little overcooked for it.

To explain the plot is a little difficult. “Beat” Takeshi is a successful actor and celebrity; while Mr Kitano is a convenience store worker and amateur actor. Their lives cross at a studio where Mr Kitano has been cast in a low-level part. They comment on how much they look-a-like. It is from then on that Mr Kitano’s life seems to reflect that of the more famous half.

The cast play numerous roles in each of the Takeshis’ lives, with scenarios replaying themselves in a different setting. As this world of déjà vu gets in his head more and more, Mr Kitano finds himself in possession of a gun and puts it to use against anyone who has mocked his lowly status.

What’s obvious here is the references to all of Kitano’s previous films, with homages to his own shots and scenes. The cast as well are faces we will all recognise from Kitano’s works, with numerous in-jokes throughout. If this is one of your first Kitano films, therefore, there won’t be much for you.

Humour comes from the crossed-lives and repeating scenarios, notably Tamotsu Ishibashi’s Junior yakuza wanting to switch to acting, having to have his lines fed to him. While referencing his entire oeuvre, the film also references itself throughout.

Maybe there is a little too much of this, however, making “Takeshis’” a film without its own identity. It has the feel more of a television special or a DVD extra. When first watching this on release, I had not had the exposure to Kitano’s work that I have now, and so a later viewing is much more rewarding, but still, the scattergun approach of references makes this far from an absorbing watch, and more like a collection of sketches, in the mould of Monty Python’s “And Now for Something Completely Different”.

“Too much” is the phrase for this, with extended tap-dancing and breakdancing sequences unnecessary and adding little; as well as the self-indulgent final act on the beach, typical of Kitano. But does Kitano care? No. This is very much his two-fingers to the industry and anyone else for that matter. The lampooning of his old work seems to be putting all that preceded it to bed, killing it once and for all. With suicide often a feature of his films, this is a suicide of sorts for his oeuvre up to that point.

This has laughs for the fans, but is too clumsy and confused throughout to form a cohesive whole. But what started in “Dolls” with two of the three stories undeveloped; and continued in “Zatoichi” with less than hi-fi special effects, “Takeshis’” just feels a little lazy in its execution. A lot of thought has clearly gone into the refencing to bring his career to a head, but the world in which they have been put is a little lacklustre, with no real story and scenarios feeling a little off-the-cuff, as can often be the case with sketch shows. As is the case with overly-ambitious works: the idea far exceeds the finished product.

This has many of Kitano’s traits, with humour; the idea of mimicry and hierarchy; and playtime. The violence comes in abundance when it does come, and lacks the flare or creativity of his earlier films. This was his twelfth film in his sixteenth year as a director. He has only gone on to make six in the next sixteen. “Takeshis’” is a clear turning point in his career and an either unwitting or purposeful beginning of the end.

As his next film, “Glory to the Filmmaker!” would suggest, he had maybe grown tired of directing or the associations his work had gathered. His ultimate onscreen suicide, he’s telling us to not take any of it too seriously, which would ultimately prove the case for his career thereafter.