Takeshi Kitano interview

[Shelly Silver]

I'm probably in a very different position from all of you, not having seen
his films, not knowing his reputation, never having met him, etc.  So you
can think that my first real introduction to him was this interview.  I
don't want to push my ignorance too far or bring down the wrath of the
list, but maybe it would be interesting just for fun, to go a little bit
further than just saying what a complex, multi-faceted artist he is.

>From reading the interview, I got the sense of a man who was somewhat
rebellious in his youth (and proud of it), who now finds himself in middle
age, with all the changes that come with this position.  Incomprehension of
the youth today, jealousy, fear of being passed or forgotten, and at the
same time having the distance and wisdom that comes with age.

Its probably pretty clear what leads me to think this - all of his mentions
of youth were either that his generation had done it all and better than
the youth today, or that they kids today are out of control, not knowing
the difference between rights and duty....   This is not to say that there
aren't issues to talk about in terms of today's younger generation in Japan
or that all youth go through the same rights of passage, but stupid as it
sounds I just keep thinking of the song from Bye Bye Birdie 'what's the
matter with kids today'.

That he thinks kids are space aliens, but likes to hang out with the kids
from his fan club, well this doesn't seem like such a big surprise.

Is this a criticism?  Well, I wouldn't rush out to buy sociological texts
he's written on Japanese youth, society, etc.(maybe that's what got me
nervous, reading that he had written all these  books).  But in terms of
filmmaking, I could guess that it is just all of the above tensions (Mark
Schiller talks about 'Kids Return' in this way) that would make his films
powerful.  The being in between, not in a clearly thought out way or as a
defined position, but rather as a jumping back and forth.

But now I better shut up and see some of the films.




Shelly Silver
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