Takeshis at Venice...

[Jason Gray]

Earlier today I noticed this article on Yahoo! Japan News
(syndicated from Sankei Sports):

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20050904-00000032-sanspo-ent


DIRECTOR TAKESHI KITANO'S FILM "TAKESHIS'" SCREENED AT
VENICE – REACTION NOT VERY GOOD

(VENICE, Sept. 3rd) A surprise press screening of director
Takeshi Kitano's latest film, "TAKESHIS'", was held at the
62nd Venice International Film Festival before the film
had its public screening on the evening of September 2nd
(early morning of the 3rd in Japan) at the festival's main
venue, the Sala Grande. 

The crowds in Venice scrambled to be the first to see the
hotly-tipped screening. The film stars Beat Takeshi as a
convenience store worker, but the complicated story's
mixture of reality and fantasy failed to garner a good
reaction. As the end credits rolled, applause was sparse,
upon which director Takeshi Kitano, sitting in the
audience, was heard to mutter "Maybe it's a little too
heavy."

After the screening, Kitano spoke to the Japanese press.
"Today I saw the film again and it's terrible. 'Who the
hell made this?' I thought to myself. It was actually me
who did," Kitano said jokingly.

"I set out to make a strange, groundbreaking film, and I
think it succeeds, but it feels like I made a car that was
so fast I couldn't drive it and fell out," Kitano said
with a bitter smile and sagging shoulders.

"If I win the Grand Prix, it must mean I'm nearing death,
so I don't need it," he remarked in regard to possible
awards. "This period is over. Next time I'm going to make
an orthodox film in the style of the masters and then
maybe I'll win," Kitano mused about his next film.  



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