, also known as in Japan, is a Japanese comedian, actor, and filmmaker. While he is known primarily as a comedian and TV host in his native Japan, he is better known abroad for his work as a filmmaker and actor as well as TV host.

During his time as a student at Meiji University, he became a comedian at the strip theater France-za in Asakusa, Tokyo. In 1973, he formed a comedy duo called Two Beat with Kiyoshi Kaneko, who later became Beat Kiyoshi. Kitano adopted the stage name Beat Takeshi. Riding the wave of the comedy boom, he gained popularity with satirical and sharp-tongued black humor. In the 1980s, he appeared in TV shows such as Oretachi Hyōkin-zoku which recorded the highest viewership rating of 29.1%, and Takeshi's Castle which recorded 24.7%, becoming explosively popular on television. He gained recognition as an actor in director Nagisa Ōshima's film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983). In 1989, he made his directorial debut with the film Violent Cop after Kinji Fukasaku stepped down. He won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for his film Hana-bi (1997), becoming the third Japanese director to receive this honor after Akira Kurosawa and Hiroshi Inagaki. In October 2017, Kitano completed his Outrage crime trilogy with the release of Outrage Coda. He is also known internationally for hosting the game show Takeshi's Castle (1986–1990) and starring in the film Battle Royale (2000).

He has received critical acclaim for his idiosyncratic cinematic work, winning numerous awards with Japanese film critic Nagaharu Yodogawa having once dubbed him "the true successor" to influential filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. Many of Kitano's films are dramas about yakuza gangsters or the police. Described by critics as using an acting style that is highly deadpan or a camera style that approaches near-stasis, Kitano often uses long takes during which little appears to be happening, or editing that cuts immediately to the aftermath of an event. Many of his films express a bleak worldview, but are also filled with humor and affection for their characters.

Life and career

Early life

Takeshi Kitano was born in Adachi, Tokyo, with two older brothers and an older sister. His father worked as a house painter, with Kitano revealing that he used to live like a yakuza, while his mother was a strict disciplinarian and educator who worked in a factory. In his working-class neighborhood, the children looked up to baseball players and yakuza, with many of his neighbors being the latter.

Comedy career and success

In the 1970s, he formed a comedy duo with his friend Nirō Kaneko (also called Kiyoshi Kaneko). They took on the stage names Beat Takeshi and Beat Kiyoshi; together referring to themselves as . This sort of duo comedy, known as manzai in Japan, usually features a great deal of high-speed back-and-forth banter between the two performers. Kiyoshi played the straight man (tsukkomi) against Takeshi's funny man (boke). In 1976, they performed on television for the first time and became a success, propelling their act onto the national stage. The reason for their popularity had much to do with Kitano's material, which was much more risqué than traditional manzai. The targets of his jokes were often the socially vulnerable, including the elderly, the handicapped, the poor, children, women, the ugly and the stupid. Complaints to the broadcaster led to censorship of some of Kitano's jokes and the editing of offensive dialogue. Kitano confirmed in a video interview that he was forbidden to access the NHK studios for five years for having exposed his body during a show when it was totally forbidden.

Although Two Beat was one of the most successful acts of its kind during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Kitano decided to go solo and the duo was dissolved. Together with Sanma Akashiya and Tamori, Kitano is said to be one of the "Big Three" television comedians (owarai tarento) of Japan. Some autobiographical elements relating to his manzai career can be found in his 1996 film Kids Return. Beat Kiyoshi has a bit part in Kitano's 1999 film Kikujiro, as "Man at the Bus Stop". Kitano had also become a popular television host. Takeshi's Castle was a game show hosted by Kitano in the 1980s, featuring slapstick-style physical contests. It was broadcast years later in the United States under the title Most Extreme Elimination Challenge, with Takeshi renamed "Vic Romano".

Many of Kitano's routines involved him portraying a gangster or other harsh characters. Kitano said that after playing comedy clubs he would be invited to drink with yakuza, who would tell him stories about the big crime bosses.

In 1986, Kitano worked on the Family Computer video game Takeshi no Chōsenjō (translated as Takeshi's Challenge), as a consultant and partial designer. He was the first Japanese celebrity to actively contribute to the development of a video game and starred in several commercials promoting its release. Due to the title's difficulty and confusing gameplay mechanics, it was placed first in Famitsu magazine's kusoge (shit game) ranking, and is often referred to as one of the worst video games of all time. Takeshi no Chōsenjō and its development was later the subject of the first episode of GameCenter CX, a gaming variety show hosted by Osaka comedian Shinya Arino. That same year, Kitano found himself in a legal incident when he stormed the editorial office of the weekly magazine Friday after it published an article accusing him of an affair.

In 1987, he appeared as the kayfabe manager of Big Van Vader at the NJPW Year End In Kokugikan event.

In 1988, he published a memoir, Asakusa Kid. He has also published a number of novels and other books which have been translated into French. He co-founded the Agency Office Kitano with Masayuki Mori.

After several other acting roles, mostly comedic, in 1989 he was cast as the lead in Violent Cop. When director Kinji Fukasaku stepped down over scheduling conflicts with Kitano, due to Kitano's TV commitments, the distributor suggested the comedian direct it at his own pace. It also started a long-running collaboration with composer Joe Hisaishi, which would last until 2002.

Although 1993's Sonatine did poorly in Japan, it received rave reviews in Europe when it was shown at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. Kitano made Kids Return in 1996, soon after his recovery.

The 1995 release of Getting Any? (Minna Yatteruka!), which was filmed before the accident, showed Kitano returning to his comedy roots. This Airplane!-like assemblage of comedic scenes, all centering loosely around a Walter Mitty-type character trying to have sex in a car, met with little acclaim in Japan. Much of the film satirizes popular Japanese culture, such as Ultraman or Godzilla and even the Zatoichi character that Kitano himself would go on to play eight years later. That year Kitano also appeared in the film adaptation of William Gibson's 1995 Johnny Mnemonic, credited by the mononym "Takeshi", although his on-screen time was greatly reduced for the American cut of the film.

After his motorscooter accident, Kitano took up painting. His paintings have been published in books, featured in gallery exhibitions, and adorn the covers of many of the soundtrack albums for his films. His paintings were featured prominently in his most critically acclaimed film, 1997's Hana-bi. Although for years already Kitano's largest audience had been the foreign arthouse crowd, Hana-bi cemented his status internationally as one of Japan's foremost modern filmmakers. Although it was not a big success financially, it won the Golden Lion award at the 1997 Venice Film Festival. A room in the basement played a 12-hour loop of his work as a TV host.

Kitano's 2010 film Outrage was screened at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. He admitted he tried something different for Outrage by adding a lot of dialogue, stepping back as the main character to make an ensemble piece, and having the feel of a nature documentary watching the characters kill each other. A sequel, 2012's Outrage Beyond, was screened in competition at the 69th Venice International Film Festival. He also appeared in Yasuo Furuhata's 2012 film, Dearest. In September 2012, Takeshi Kitano said that the producers wanted him to make a third Outrage film depending on the box office. On 7 March 2013, Minkei News of Hong Kong reported that Kitano won the Best Director award for Outrage Beyond at the 7th Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong.

On 10 August 2013, in an interview reported by John Bleasdale, Kitano revealed his current plans for a sequel to Outrage Beyond and an untitled personal film project. As Kitano stated, "Ideally what would happen would be this: Outrage Beyond becomes a huge hit, so huge that my producer allows me to make one film I really want to do and then come back to the sequel after I've made the film I really want to do."

In September 2015, it was announced that Kitano would be contributing his voice and likeness to the character Toru Hirose in the SEGA video game Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. This collaboration marked Kitano's first involvement with the video game industry in 30 years since the 1986 release of Takeshi no Chōsenjō.

Takeshi co-starred in the live action adaptation of the manga Ghost in the Shell, marking his return to American cinema nearly twenty years after Johnny Mnemonic in 1995. Although he has expressed his dislike of anime and manga in the past, he accepted the role because "even though this stylish piece of entertainment is totally different from the films I've directed, I thought it was interesting that Aramaki, the role I play, is a character who gives off a peculiar vibe and, in various episodes, is set at the core of the characters' relationships. I'm looking forward to see how the movie turns out."

In 2017, Kitano released the third and final installment in the successful Outrage series titled Outrage Coda.

Awards

Kitano won the Golden Lion award at the 54th Venice International Film Festival in 1997 for his film Hana-bi. In 2008, at the 30th Moscow International Film Festival, Kitano was given the Lifetime Achievement Award. In March 2010 Kitano was named a Commander of the Order of the Arts and Letters of France. On the 29th of April 2022 he received the Golden Mulberry Lifetime Achievement Award at the 24th Far East International Film Festival of Udine 2022, in Italy.

Agency

1988–2018.3: Office Kitano is a Japanese talent management company founded in February 1988 by Kitano.

Filmography

Feature films

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Year

! English Title

! Original Title

! Director

! Writer

! Editor

! Notes

|-

!1989

|Violent Cop

|その男、凶暴につき

|

|

|

| Re-wrote the entire original screenplay by Hisashi Nozawa

|-

!1990

| Boiling Point

|3-4x10月

|

|

|

|

|-

!1991

| A Scene at the Sea

|あの夏、いちばん静かな海。

|

|

|

|

|-

!1993

| Sonatine

|ソナチネ

|

|

|

|

|-

!1995

| Getting Any?

|みんな～やってるか！

|

|

|

|Credited as "Beat Takeshi"

|-

!1996

|Kids Return

|キッズ・リターン

|

|

|

|

|-

!1997

| colspan="2" | Hana-bi

|

|

|

| Also drawings and paintings

|-

!1999

| Kikujiro

|菊次郎の夏

|

|

|

|

|-

!2000

|Brother

|ブラザー

|

|

|

|

|-

!2002

|Dolls

|ドールズ

|

|

|

|

|-

!2003

|Zatōichi

|座頭市

|

|

|

|

|-

!2005

| colspan="2" | Takeshis

|

|

|

|

|-

! rowspan="2" |2007

|To Each His Own Cinema

|Chacun son cinéma : une déclaration d'amour au grand écran

|

|

|

| Omnibus film, segment "One Fine Day";

Also producer

|-

| Glory to the Filmmaker!

|監督·ばんざい!

|

|

|

|

|-

!2008

|Achilles and the Tortoise

|アキレスと亀

|

|

|

|

|-

!2010

|Outrage

|アウトレイジ

|

|

|

|rowspan=2| Also executive producer

|-

!2012

| Beyond Outrage

|アウトレイジ ビヨンド

|

|

|

|-

!2015

| Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen

|龍三と七人の子分たち

|

|

|

|

|-

!2017

|Outrage Coda

|アウトレイジ 最終章

|

|

|

|

|-

!2023

|Kubi

|首

|

|

|

| Also based on his novel and producer

|-

!2024

| colspan="2" |Broken Rage

|

|

|

|

|}

As actor

  • Go, Go, Second Time Virgin (1969)
  • Shinjuku Mad (1970)
  • Makoto-chan (1980)
  • ' (1981)
  • Manon (1981)
  • Sukkari... Sono Kide (1981)
  • Secret of Summer (1982)
  • Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983)
  • Mosquito on the Tenth Floor (1983)
  • Kanashii kibun de joke (1985)
  • Yasha (1985)
  • Comic Magazine (1986)
  • Anego (1988)
  • Violent Cop (1989)
  • Boiling Point (1990)
  • Setsuna Kimono, Sore wa Ai (1990)
  • Hoshi wo tsugu mono (1990)
  • A Legend of Turmoil (1992)
  • Dioxin from Fish! (1992)
  • Erotic Liaisons (1992)
  • Silver Ball (1992)
  • Sonatine (1993)
  • Kyoso Tanjo (1993)
  • Getting Any? (1995)
  • Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
  • Gonin (1995)
  • Hana-bi (1997)
  • Tokyo Eyes (1998)
  • Kikujiro (1999)
  • Taboo (1999)
  • Remains of Chivalry Zankyo (1999)
  • Brother (2000)
  • Battle Royale (2000)
  • Zatoichi (2003)
  • Battle Royale II: Requiem (2003)
  • Izo (2004)
  • Blood and Bones (2004)
  • The Golden Cups One More Time (2004)
  • Takeshis (2005)
  • Arakimentari (2005)
  • Glory to the Filmmaker! (2007)
  • The Monster X Strikes Back/Attack the G8 Summit (2008) - Take-Majin
  • Achilles and the Tortoise (2008)
  • Outrage (2010)
  • Dearest (2012)
  • Beyond Outrage (2012)
  • Ryuzo 7 (2015)
  • Mozu (2015)
  • While the Women Are Sleeping (2016)
  • Ghost in the Shell (2017) - Chief Daisuke Aramaki
  • Outrage Coda (2017)
  • Kubi (2023) - Hashiba Hideyoshi
  • Broken Rage (2024) - Nezumi

Television

  • Thousand Stars and One Night (1980–1981)
  • The Manzai (1980–1982)
  • Oretachi Hyōkin-zoku (1981–1989)
  • Bakumatsu Seishun Graffiti: Sakamoto Ryōma (1982), Yamauchi Yōdō
  • Laugh and Pon! (1983)
  • Super Jockey (1983–1999)
  • Sports Taisho (1985–1990)
  • Owarai Ultra Quiz (1989–1996, 2007)
  • Genki TV (1985–1996)
  • Takeshi's Castle (1986–1990)
  • TV Tackle (1989–present)
  • Heisei Board of Education (1991–1997)
  • ' (1991–present)
  • Daredemo Picasso (1997–present)
  • Kiseki Taiken! Anbiribabō (1997–present)
  • Koko ga Hen da yo Nihonjin (1998–2002)
  • Musashi (2003)
  • Medical Horror Check Show (2004-2009)
  • Quiz $ Millionaire (2009)
  • Fuji Television midnight broadcasting series (1991–present)

:Kitano Fan Club

:Kitano Fuji

:Adachi-ku no Takeshi, Sekai no Kitano

:Saitoh Singu-ten

:Kitano Talent Meikan

:Takeshi Kitano presents Comăneci University Mathematics

  • Aka Medaka (2015)
  • Hagoku (2017)
  • Idaten (2019), Kokontei Shinshō V
  • Two Homelands (2019), Hideki Tojo

Radio

  • All Night Nippon by Beat Takeshi (1981–1990)
  • Beatnik Radio (1997–2000)
  • Beat Takeshi's literary night talk (NRN)
  • International men's friendship book show

Books

Video games

As designer

  • Takeshi no Chōsenjō (1986)

As actor

  • Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (2016), Toru Hirose

Notes

References

Further reading

  • Takeshi Kitano official site