Is Takeshi Kitano a Ghibli Studio film fan?

[Julien Seveon]

Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies are well known, and that’s an euphemism, 
by all Japanese. No doubt that Kitano have seen them (it will be pretty hard 
today to find someone in Japan who hasn’t), but I’m not sure the scenes you 
mention are objectively attended as references to Totoro. I'd rather say 
that those are only simple similarities between both work.


>From: "Michael E. Kerpan" <kerpan at attglobal.net>
>Reply-To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>Subject: Is Takeshi Kitano a Ghibli Studio film fan?
>Date: Fri, 4 Aug 2000 21:46:54 -0400
>
>There is an obvious connection between actor/director Takeshi Kitano 
>andHayao
>Miyazaki in that they share the services of film composer Joe Hisaishi.
>However, having now seen three films by Kitano, I am convinced that he must 
>be
>quite aware of both Miyazaki's Totoro and Isao Takahata's Grave of the
>Fireflies (at least).  Kitano's newest film Kikujiro seems to have quite a 
>few
>little references to Totoro -- a frog in a cameo role, leaf umbrellas, 
>waiting
>at a bus stop in the rain, a corn picking scen, a (camphor?) tree with rope
>around it, and most importantly the search for a mother.  Hana-Bi 
>(Fireworks)
>has a very different plot from Grave, but the tone and mood are remarkably
>similar -- a blend of sharp objectivity interspersed with sweetness and
>punctuated with spasms of frightening violence. Not only Kikujiro and 
>Hana-Bi
>feature extended scenes of "play" as a respite from fear, but so does 
>Sonatine.
>
>
>We're also starting to survey Ozu films  -- Miyazaki and (even more so)
>Takahata seem to be quite influenced by him.  (But I'll save this for 
>another
>day.)
>

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