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Takeshi Kitano leaves his signature on all of his work, creating films of subtle beauty and violence, that could belong to none but him.
Midway into the shooting schedule of the 1990 film Violent Cop, director Takeshi Kitano took over, thus beginning the career of Japan's most stylistically-recognizable modern director. Kitano the AuteurKitano is an auteur in the truest sense of the word. There is no mistaking one of his films, as each one is left with his indelible impression. This film, his debut as a director, already bears the distinct set of aesthetics that has been carried through to his most recent works. Violent CopKitano, both the director and the actor (portraying Azuma, Violent Cop's reckless detective), is a juggernaut in his films, carrying the momentum of each scene on his shoulders, be it behind the camera or in front of it. Violent Cop weaves the action through the modern streets of Japan, depicting savage beatings and tireless chases alongside oblivious street vendors, cleaning ladies, and passersby on bicycles. The camera shots, divided between long, static takes and subtle camera movements, all depend on Kitano for momentum. If a shot is fixed, it is Kitano, whose pent-up anger, translated through his awkward shamble and sudden outbursts of violent energy, that give them their defining character, elevating them above the oft-times spartan set-up. In scenes where Kitano is not present, it is in his very absence that the energy is created, as the viewer wonders what he will do next, or how he will react to certain new information. A perfect example from this film of Kitano's particular brand of scene-momentum is the one where Kitano, walking, passes by his quarry without noticing. The scene is established with the criminal passing on Kitano's left, on a flight of stairs, nearly inconspicuous, with little focus on him at all. Kitano walks for quite some distance before, with absolutley no change coming over his face, he pivots and runs back, realizing who it had been. Violence and Subtlety in KitanoViolence preceded by subtlety, in fact, might be the perfect description of Kitano's overall effect. Character motivation and emotional reactions to events are often inscrutible, and, when such subtlety ends in sudden and explicit violence, the end result is made all the more jarring and impactful. Kitano's films, almost like haiku, are comprised of small scenes, small pieces of poetry, that, once strung together and properly understood, create a strange, nearly other-worldly aura of the very fine line between life and death.
The copyright of the article Kitano: Japan's Modern Auteur in Foreign Films is owned by Zachary Hughes. Permission to republish Kitano: Japan's Modern Auteur in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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