Kitano's art gallery

Kitano's Biography

 

 

 

 

Filmography

 

 

 

 


 

 

Art Gallery

Kitano's Biography:

Takeshi Kitano was born in 1947 in Tokyo from a very poor family. Cadet of four children, his mother makes him begin engineer studies at Meiji's university. He stopped at 19 years old. He has little jobs for a time then begins to work in the "France burlesque theater" in Asakusa, and, in contact with many futures cinema or Japanese's TV stars, he finds his vocation. He learned comic job from the comic Senzabūro Fukami , who proposes to Kitano, in 1973, to become Beat Kioishi's partner.

The duet, baptised "Two Beats", performs Manzai's style, originally from Kansai (Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe), and meets rapid success. 1980 is the year of the Manzai's boom at TV and the "Two Beats" become the stars of TV Shows like Watteru Baai Desu Yo! (it's time to laugh!), and Kitano obtrudes himself in solo in Oretachi hyokinzoku's TV show (we're all crazy!), that will be diffused for 8 years, from 1981 to 1989.

During this time he will surround himself of his "army", young comedians who can be parties of his sketchs, provocations & humiliations of all sorts! In his different shows, he laughs at womans, homosexuals, handicaped, feign murders on old people, and dresses himself in ridiculous costums (ninjas, clowns, mouse, socks:-) or insults & beats his guests .

In 1986, he invades, with 11 friends, Friday's newspaper's place to be phisically revenged for revelations about his private life. He will avoid prison but must quit TV for 6 months.

Kitano triumphs on radio too, with a program intituled "all night nippon", make talk-shows about Japanese's economy, publishes political, historical & social essays, novels and poetical works, begins painting (a big exposition took place recently in Tokyo) and, of course, tries cinema as an actor (his most famous role: sergent Hara in Furyo from Oshima). He begins as film-director in 1989.

Japanese people will be longer to accept this last aspect of Kitano, too distant from their TV droll. After Violent Cop, Kitano begins projects that will raise up scorn and incomprehension in his country. He must wait the world's successes of Sonatine and Kids Return and above all the "Lion d'or" in Venice for Hana-Bi to be estimated by Japanese's critics.

By this time, Kitano survived a terrible motorcycle crash, in August 1994, which he described himself as an "inconscious suicidal attempt". His right's half face became partially paralyzed.

 

HOMEPAGE

21/04/1999 by tetsuo