Takeshi Kitano: From manzai comic to giant of Japanese film

Director Takeshi Kitano waves to the crowd during the 69th Venice Film Festival in September 2012.

 | REUTERS / VIA KYODO

FILM | HEISEI ICONS

This is the fifth in a 10-part series on influential figures in the Heisei Era, which began in 1989 and will end when Emperor Akihito abdicates in April. In Heisei, Japan was roiled by economic excess and stagnation, as well as a struggle for political and social reform. This series explores those who left their imprint along the way.

Many Japanese filmmakers try to promote their films and talents abroad but stumble more than they succeed: Either Cannes rejects their latest masterpiece or Hollywood turns down their J-horror script.

By contrast, Takeshi Kitano, the country’s most internationally celebrated director of the 1990s, began his rise almost by accident.

He also became a leader in what came to be called the Japanese New Wave of the 1990s — a movement of younger Japanese directors who rejected or subverted the conventions of their studio-trained forebears. Although some of these filmmakers — Jun Ichikawa, Shinji Somai, Sogo Ishii, Hitoshi Yazaki and Shinya Tsukamoto — began making films in the 1980s, it was in the Heisei Era, which is set to end April 30, that their careers and their visions truly began to take flight.......

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