Takeshi Kitano

Takeshi Kitano

Date of Birth: 18 Jan 1947

Country: Japan

Biography: Takeshi Kitano is a Japanese film director, comedian, singer, actor, film editor, presenter, screenwriter, author, poet, painter, and one-time video game designer who has received critical acclaim, both in his native Japan and abroad, for his idiosyncratic cinematic work. Many of his films express a bleak or nihilistic philosophy, but they are also filled with humor and affection for their characters. Kitano's films leave paradoxical impressions and can seem controversial.

Total Credits at Criticker: 59 (Actor), 19 (Director), 20 (Writer)

Biography submitted by DesertPunk

Find more information about Takeshi Kitano at The Internet Movie Database

Titles you haven't rated - Actor (59) | Director (19) | Writer (20)

    Arakimentari
    A documentary film and journey into the life and mind of Japan's most notorious and controversial photographer, Nobuyoshi Araki. (Troopers Films)
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    The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi
    Director Takeshi Kitano takes on Japanese cinematic legend Zatoichi. Kitano stars as the blind wanderer with a distinctive red cane and a shock of platinum blonde hair. Softly-spoken, he makes a living as a masseur and by gambling, but his humble, shuffling facade masks a lightning-fast, deadly swordsman. (Miramax)
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    Brother
    The story of a Yakuza warrior who introduces the code of honor and discipline into the L.A. criminal world. (Sony Pictures Classics)
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    Kikujiro
    It's summer and nine-year old Masao (Sekiguchi) has no one to play with. He decides to go in search of the mother he has never met. Kikujiro (Takeshi), a brash, loudmouthed and irresponsible adult, agrees to accompany him on his quest. Ultimately, the two of them end up at a destination that neither of them could have imagined. (Sony Pictures Classics)
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    Taboo
    Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering around a handsome young samurai named Sozaburo Kano. The school's stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path. (imdb)
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    Tokyo Eyes
    Tokyo police are investigating a series of reckless and bizarre shootings by a suspect known only as "four eyes." Meanwhile, the teen-aged sister of one of the investigating officers begins her own investigation. Having spotted a strange young man named K who resembles the composite, an elaborate minuet ensues in which it is not always certain who is following and spying on whom -- surprisingly, an unexpected trust, and the beginnings of an amorous alliance, develops between the two. (Viz Films / Tidepoint Pictures)
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    Battle Royale
    Ninth grade students are taken to a small isolated island with a map, food and various arms. They have to fight each other three days long until the last one remains and are forced to wear a special collar which will explode when they break a rule (imdb)
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    Fireworks
    Nishi is a cop whose wife is slowly dying of Leukemia. One of his partners gets shot on the job and is confined to a wheel chair for the rest of his life and becomes suicidal (imdb)
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    Sonatine
    Several yakuza from Tokyo are sent to Okinawa to help end a gang war. The war escalates and the Tokyo drifters decide to lay low at the beach. (imdb)
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    Takeshis\
    Beat Takeshi lives the busy and sometimes surreal life of a showbiz celebrity. One day he meets his blond lookalike named Kitano... (imdb)
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    Izo
    We begin in 1865, when the Shogunate is on its last legs, but still capable of punishing its enemies. One is Izo (Kazuya Nakayama), an assassin in the service of Hanpeida (Ryosuke Miki), a Tosa lord and Imperial supporter. After killing dozens of the Shogun's men, Izo is captured and crucified. Instead of being extinguished, his rage propels him through the space-time continuum to present-day Tokyo (imdb)
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    Johnny Mnemonic
    A data courier, carrying a data package literally inside his head too large to hold for long, must deliver it before he dies from it. (imdb)
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    Boiling Point
    Two members of a Japanese junior baseball team get mixed up with the local yakuza. After their coach is severely injured by the gangsters, the two boys set off to Okinawa to purchase a gun in order to get revenge (imdb)
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    Violent Cop
    Detective Azuma is a Dirty-Harry style rogue cop who often uses violence and unethical methods to get results... (imdb)
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    Battle Royale 2: Requiem
    Three years after the failure of the original BR program, a second act is forged and a class of students are sent to an island with one objective: kill international terrorist Shuya Nanahara. (imdb)
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    Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence
    In 1942 British soldier Jack Celliers comes to a japanese prison camp. The camp is run by Yonoi, who has a firm belief in discipline, honour and glory. (imdb)
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    Chacun son cinéma ou Ce petit coup au coeur quand la lumière s\
    A collective film of 33 shorts directed by different directors about their feeling about Cinema. (imdb)
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    Glory to the Filmmaker!
    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. (imdb)
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    Achilles and the Tortoise
    The troubled life story of the painter Machisu from childhood, to young adulthood, and culminating in his old age.
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    Gonin
    Five men plot to steal a large sum of money from the local yakuza, but everything does not go as planned and the men find themselves hunted down by contract killers. (imdb)
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    Chi to hone
    In 1923, the Korean teenager Kim Shun-Pei moves from Cheju Island, in South Korea, to Osaka, in Japan. Along the years, he becomes a cruel, greedy and violent man and builds a factory of kamaboko, processed seafood products, in his poor Korean-Japanese community exploiting his employees. He makes fortune, abuses and destroys the lives of his wife and family, having many mistresses and children and showing no respect to anybody... (imdb)
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    Girara no gyakushû: Tôya-ko Samitto kikiippatsu
    The G8 summit has gathered the world's leaders at Lake Toya, which resides near a volcano in Hokkaido. Meanwhile, a Chinese rocket lands in Japan, causing a giant monster to be born from a spore. The leaders each attempt their own strategies to defeat the monster and show their respective nation's might.
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    Komikku zasshi nanka iranai!
    A TV gossip reporter gets in trouble after his methods upset those he reports on.
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    Mosquito on the Tenth Floor
    "Mosquito on the Tenth Floor" centers around a police officer and his out-of-control life style. (asianmediawiki)
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    Outrage: Way of the Yakuza
    The story begins with Sekiuchi, boss of the Sannokai, a huge organised crime syndicate controlling the entire Kanto region, issuing a stern warning to his lieutenant Kato and right-hand man Ikemoto, head of the Ikemoto-gumi. Kato orders Ikemoto to bring the unassociated Murase-gumi gang in line, and he immediately passes the task on to his subordinate Otomo, who runs his own crew. The tricky jobs that no-one wants to do always end up in Otomo's lap...
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    Yasha
    A retired yakuza Shuji (Ken Takakura), now turned fisherman, gets dragged into his past by the arrival of a woman from Osaka Keiko (Yûko Tanaka) who sets up a bar in the small fishing village, bringing her boyfriend Yajima (Takeshi Kitano) and his troubles along. Shuji seeing the bad influence Yajima has on the other fishermen, tries to sort things out the only way he knows.
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    Beyond Outrage
    Hard-boiled Japanese auteur Takeshi Kitano returns with the sequel to his 2010 yakuza thriller. (tiff.net)
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    Erotic Liaisons
    Rie and Kishi runs a detective agency in Paris. Fallen flooding not directly and they supplement their budget with guiding Japanese tourists. This takes over when the crime boss Okuyama gives them the assignment to shadow his French mistress. Kishi falls head over heels for her while Okuyama has something weird in sight.
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    Anata e
    A prison officer hands in his resignation after his wife's death, to drive to the port where she wants her ashes scattered at sea. (imdb)
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    Trespassing Bergman
    In the mid 1960s Swedish director Ingmar Bergman built a house on the remote island of Fårö. Throughout his life, the exact location of the house was a well-guarded secret. Here Bergman lived and shot some of his seminal films until his death in 2007. In TRESPASSING BERGMAN the audience is taken to the house together with directors such as Alejandro González Iñárritu, Claire Denis, Michael Haneke and others, to tell the story of Bergman, his island and some of his most central films. (ffm-montreal.org)
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    Ryuzo and the 7 Henchmen
    Ryûzô (Tatsuya Fuji) is a retired yakuza gangster who lives a quiet unassuming life with his salaryman son, Ryuhei (Masanobu Katsumura). Still in contact with his former lieutenant, Masa (Masaomi Kondô), Ryûzô maintains his short tempo with their regular get-togethers. One day, the old gangster receives a call from an impostor pretending to be his son asking for ¥5 million. (Wikipedia)
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    While the Women Are Sleeping
    Kenji and Aya spend their summer days in a Hotel. While she is doing her own thing, he tries to work on his novel. But then a few strange hotel guest arouse the curiosity of the couple...
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    Takeshi\
    A game show where upwards of 100 contestants (give or take) try to get through various wet, dirty, and wild obstacles and games for a chance to win the grand prize of 1 million yen (Approx. $10,000) by defeating Takeshi and his crew. (imdb)
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    Ghost in the Shell
    In the near future, Major is the first of her kind: A human saved from a terrible crash, who is cyber-enhanced to be a perfect soldier devoted to stopping the world's most dangerous criminals.
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    Kanashii kibun de joke
    This is a sad and beautiful story about a father who is a popular comedian and a son who suffered by an incurable disease. (The Movie Database)
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    Makoto-chan
    The series follows the odd life of kindergartener Makoto Sawada and his family. Makoto gets into all sorts of toilet and adult humor. He sometimes dresses in his mother's and sister's clothing, and often has a long strand of mucus dangling from his nose. (The Movie Database)
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    Danpu wataridori
    A survival thriller where people battle the elements and each other while trying survive (The Movie Database)
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    Sukkari... sono ki de!
    This film is Beat Takeshi's first starring role. (The Movie Database)
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    The Boss\
    The widow of a murdered yakuza boss serves jail time for attacking the man she believes killed her husband. After her release, as she is shadowed by a hitman, she returns to thoughts of revenge. (imdb)
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    Hoshi wo tsugu mono
    An old man falls into a coma and dreams about his childhood during WWII. (The Movie Database)
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    Kim\
    Kim's War (1991) - TV Movie
    Kitano plays Kim Hui Ro, a real life Korean immigrant, who after shooting a gangster who threatened his life, took refuge at a hotel and took the guest hostages. Realizing his position, he invited the press inside and explained why he was driven to his crime, before letting himself being arrested. (The Movie Database)
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    Dioxin from Fish!
    A black comedy about a former Rock'n'Roll singer, who becomes the mayor of Tokyo. (The Movie Database)
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    Many Happy Returns
    A young man, Kazuo, joins a new cult religion even though he sees through the initial recruitment pretense, and participating in the activities of a new social phenomenon, some of whose members genuinely believe in the principles and practice as preached, while others have more Machiavellian motives. (imdb)
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    Hyaku-nen no monogatari
    Each episode of this three-part miniseries centers on the life of one of three generations of women (all played by Nanako Matsushima). The first takes place in Tokyo in the 1920's, at the time of the Great Kanto Earthquake. The second (centering on the star of the first episode's niece) takes place just after the Second World War. In the final episode, the granddaughter of the family tours through 1990's America with her husband. (imdb)
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    Kichiku
    Kichiku (2002) - TV Movie
    TV Movie drama starring Beat Takeshi (The Movie Database)
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    Musashi
    Musashi (2003) - TV Series
    Based on the famous biography written by Yoshikawa Eiji, this year's drama boasts a list of stars that reads like a Who's Who of screen and television. Among them: Fujita Makoto, Emori Toru, Nakamura Kankuro, Nakamura Tamao, Miyazawa Rie, Watase Tsunehiko, Takashima Masanobu, Tsutsumi Shin'ichi, and Katase Rino. The younger generation is well represented too, with stars like Matsuoka Masahiro, Yonekura Ryoko, Nakama Yukie, Uchiyama Rina, and Masuda Takahisa. (mydramalist.com)
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    Wada Akiko satsujin jiken
    "Don of the entertainment world" Wada Akiko was killed by someone's hand! The Japanese archipelago swaying in shocking news! And the entertainment world .... Those who are "motivated to kill" are field managers, talents, singers, cultural men, program staff, pachinko parlor staff ... more than 1,000 suspects! (The Movie Database)
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    Dots and Lines
    Dots and Lines (2007) - TV Mini-Series
    Two bodies are found on the beach. One was Sayama, a government official in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, who was a suspect in an ongoing bribery case and the other was Otoki, a waitress at a Tokyo ryotei restaurant. The Hakata Police determine the two had succeeded in a double suicide but Detective Torikai who's nearing retirement isn't convinced. Detective Mihara who had been investigating earlier arrives in Fukuoka. (dramawiki)
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    Kikoku
    Kikoku (2010) - TV Movie
    An unscheduled late night train arrives at Tokyo station on 15 August, the anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. Boarding the train are spirits of great men who died honourable deaths in the war more than 60 years ago. They have come to the modern world to see their homeland as a peaceful country and to tell the lingering spirits of the war dead about the current conditions. (The Movie Database)
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    Black Gospel
    Black Gospel (2014) - TV Movie
    April 4, 1959 in the early morning Detective Fujisawa Rokuro of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) was walking his dog along the banks of Tokyo's Musashino district, and found the body of a young woman. Her handbag, an express delivery envelope, and other possession were stil with her, her identity was immediately confirmed as airline stewardess Ikuta Setsuko. (dramawiki)
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    Ano Senso wa Nan Datta no ka
    The drama stars Beat Takeshi as General Hideki Tojo, who served as Prime Minister of Japan during World War II and was later executed as a war criminal. The story's theme is said to be a look at how the Pacific War began, focusing mostly on the three month period between the Imperial Conference (Gozen Kaigi) on September 6, 1941, and the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. (dramawiki)
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    Doctor X: Gekai Daimon Michiko Special
    Kojiro Himuro is a champion figure skater taking part in an upcoming world competition. Yet, he is suffering from a complicated CTEPH (chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension). Kantaro Kurosu is the director of the Cross Medical Center. He asks Michiko Daimon to perform surgery on Kojiro, but, right before his surgery some thing happened. (imdb)
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    A Living Promise
    After receiving news about the death of his estranged friend, a workaholic IT company executive heads to his hometown to fulfill a promise he made. (imdb)
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    Mozu the Movie
    Lone wolf detective with an enormous personal grievance seeks to connect the mysterious death of his daughter to an urban legend of a villain who terrorizes Japan by insinuating himself into people's dreams and the collective psyche of the Japanese people. (imdb)
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    Prison Break
    Prison Break (2017) - TV Movie
    One late night in June 1942, Sakuma Seitaro dangles from the frame of a skylight in an isolation cell in Akita Prison. He forces open the glass window and breaks out of jail. This crime even reaches the ears of Urata Susumu, the chief warden of Kosuge Prison in Tokyo. Urata had been in charge of those sentenced to life in the prison until last year. (The Movie Database)
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    Aka medaka
    Aka medaka (2015) - TV Movie
    Based on the true story "Aka Medaka" (Red Medaka) by Danshun Tatekawa (published April, 2008 by Fusosha Publishing). (asianwiki)
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    Outrage Coda
    Five years after surviving the all-out war between the Sanno and Hanabishi crime families, former yakuza boss Otomo now works in South Korea for Mr. Chang, a renowned fixer whose influence extends into Japan. A relatively minor incident causes tensions to rise between Chang Enterprises and the faraway powerful Hanabishi. The growing conflict gets out of hand and ignites a ferocious power struggle among the top echelons of the Hanabishi. (Office Kitano Inc.)
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    Cinéma, de notre temps
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    Kubi
    Lord Oda Nobunaga plans to control Japan where rival warlords battle by waging war against several clans. His vassal Araki Murashige stages a rebellion and promptly disappears (imdb)
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