Kantoku · Banzai! (2007)

Director:

Takeshi Kitano

Writer:

Takeshi Kitano (written by)

Release Date:

2 June 2007 (Japan)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Takeshi Kitano plays a version of himself in which he's a struggling director cycling through a number of different genres in an effort to complete his latest project. |

Plot Keywords:

Duck | Police | Car | Ninja | Japan

Cast

Takeshi Kitano		(as Beat Takeshi)
Toru Emori
Kayoko Kishimoto
Anne Suzuki
Keiko Matsuzaka
Yoshino Kimura
Kazuko Yoshiyuki
Yuki Uchida
Akira Takarada
Yumiko Fujita
Ren Ôsugi
Susumu Terajima
Naomasa Musaka
Tetsu Watanabe
Rakkyo Ide

Also Known As:

Glory to the Filmmaker! (International: English title)
A Glória do Cineasta (Brazil) (festival title) [pt]
Niech zyje rezyser! (Poland) (festival title) [pl]

Runtime:

108 min | Canada:104 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:14A

Filming Locations:

Tokyo, Japan

Company:

Bandai Visual Company

Trivia:

In the first scenes/credits of this movie, the Takeshi Kitano's stunt doll is submitted to some medical examinations. When the results are shown on the technicians' screens, the patient name constantly changes from result to result. The names refer to some Masters of the Japanese Cinema and their birth/death dates.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Zatôichi (2003)

Sorry, Takeshi...

Firstly: I am a big fan of Takeshi Kitano's movies. Except 'Gettin' any!' his movies always delivered and I found myself collecting all the DVDs. Recently I started to wonder what happened to this unique director (sure, directing movies is only part of his artistic portfolio). His movies suddenly seem to take another direction which is more self-reflecting / audience provoking/ . . . - however, not entertaining anymore. Watching his latest one 'Glory to the filmmaker' was simply awful. Where is the story? Where the interesting camera perspectives we fans used to like? They cannot be found. Instead we are left with fragments of different movie genres and no conclusion. I hope Takeshi's self reflecting period will be soon a thing of the past and we will see another outstanding piece of movie as e.g. Hana-Bi.