ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Siflutter It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Chung Mo It's a question how much of an impression that Monty Python made in Japan overall but it certainly seems to be an influence on Kitano's latest work. Certainly Terry Gilliam's signature title graphics for Life of Brian and Meaning of Life are alluded to in this film.The film starts as the narrator gives an account on how Kitano's newest film is coming along. Since Kitano is uncomfortable with the genres of Romance and family drama, these films are abandoned and he is given some action fare to work with. The results are less than satisfactory so it's decided to have Kitano direct an asteroid on collision with earth film. This takes us about 45 minutes into the real film and at this point things get very strange. A mother and daughter (the mother has a giraffe doll on her back and the daughter has a goose puppet on one arm) decide to not pay for a bowl of noodles by dropping a cockroach (that they carry around for just an occasion) into the food and complaining to the chef. But before they can complain, a bunch of professional wrestlers at another table complain about roaches in their food. The two chefs come out and beat up the wrestlers. Kitano plays an assistant to a weird chairman of a society that's devoted to performing odd acts of charity. The chairman's son looks a lot like the Mr. Gumby character from Monty Python.Kitano speaks very little in this film. Mostly he is silent and immobile much like the metal doll that stands in for him during the fight sequences. Once we get into the second half, he loosens up especially during his pantomime comedy bits. The film seems like it's a statement about being an aging film maker in the Japanese entertainment world. Unfortunately, for me the pacing was very slow at times and could have had a good 10 minutes cut out without losing any content. I laughed at some of the film but by the end I was wondering if the film was just Kitano screwing around with ideas.I enjoyed watching this film but I have a had time recommending it to anyone but Kitano fans.

Harry T. Yung Seen in the Toronto International Film Festival After a series of Kitano classics culminating in the highly and widely acclaimed "Hana-bi" (1997), the master of avant-garde Japanese gangster movies wanted to venture into other genres. "Kikujiro no natsu" (1999), a heart-warming road movie (in some ways not unlike Brazil's "Central Station" (1998)) is a favourite of mind. After another brief re-visit to the gangster genre with "Brother" (2000), he tried something else – rather surreal "Dolls" (2002) which received a general verdict of beautifully filmed but too obscure to understand. Then came a very main-stream "Zatoichi" (2003), his reinvention of the popular iconic blind swordsman in the 60s, which was good enough to win the "people's choice" award in that year's TIFF. But it has been 4 years since then and there was nothing of any significance coming out of him This latest work, "Glory to the filmmaker" seems to serve a dual purpose – yet another attempt to do something different, and also his own personal statement about his frustration with not having any more inspirations. There could actually be a third message, a lament of the current state of affair of the Japanese film industry.The movie starts by showing Kitano's proxy, a full-size blown-up doll of himself, going through a series of medical tests, ending with a scene in the consultation room where the doctor says to the doll, "Next time, send himself". It's kind of difficult to decide which one of them is more expressionless, the doctor or the doll.In the rest of the movie, we see Kitano walking around with this doll, as well as appearing in scenes interchangeably, as the plot (if it can be said to have one) unfolds under an ever-present voice over narrator. Essentially, the first half is about numerous attempts he himself makes with various genres, from traditional Ozu to trendy Hollywood CGI Sci-fi, and everything in between. The second half seems to talk about what he finally ends up making, a story about a mother-daughter team of con artists whose target is a character played by himself. Playing the daughter is 20-year-old Anne Suzuki who, after some minor roles, came to herself in "poetic director" Shunji Iwai's "Hana and Alice" (2004) and later took part in "Initial D" (2005), Hong Kong's rendering of Japan's immensely popular car racing manga.Turning back to "Glory to the filmmaker", the material in the loosely linked comic sketches appears to be drawn from Kitano's own earlier standup comedy routines as well as Monty Python, the two prime suspects. There are some really funny moments but the movie is not devoid of stretches of banality. The most brilliant gag is an illuminating comment made by one of the characters toward the end, to the effect that whenever times go rough, our protagonist would turn into a mute blown-up doll. What empathy! Isn't that what we all would love to do.The movie concludes with a very clear message. Kitano is back in the consultation room, himself rather than the doll, to hear the final diagnosis. "There's a problem with your brain," explains the doctor, "it's broken".

doug-697 This is a satire of the movie industry from the perspective of Japanese actor/director Takeshi Kitano.I am no expert on humour in Japan, but this movie seemed to be a satire written for a society without much of a history of satire. The humour is very, often excruciatingly, broad. As just one example, there's a restaurant scene in which two women are trying to get a free meal by planting a cockroach, however they witness another patron being violently beat up by two huge waiters which changes their minds. The fight goes on far too long and is more violent than funny. The exact same idea was used by Chaplin in his film The Immigrant, however, Chaplin's version was far more sophisticated and subtle. And it was made in 1917!By no means do I feel this is a bad movie, but the humour reminded me of the way Milton Berle would get laughs on his TV show in the 50s by dressing up as a woman. And it had that same nascent feel that Berle had when he was creating the first comedy for TV. As if this movie is an experiment and part of a learning process. I saw the movie at the Toronto Film Festival and I admit there were people in the audience who laughed throughout. To be fair, there are scenes that are very funny by any standards. For example, the karate school scene is quite good. And I think you could enjoy it just to get a perspective on Japanese culture. Kitano is making a serious attempt at creating satire and it could be enjoyed for that attempt. But don't expect Dr. Strangelove.

bruce_files_3 Takeshi's gang hit again. And its a good one. But I am a fan, so don't consider much my opinion. Just keep in mind about this film that if not anything else, it will expand your mind about what is cinema today. That doesn't mean that everything is fresh or striking in those two hours, nor that there is a serious possibility that you will like it, if you ain't a "Kitano-fan"! Then again, Mr. Kitano has stopped making films for the audience or the critics (whatever that means). And the results only his fans can appreciate it. All the rest, better go back and revisit his previous films. Then, you too, will want to shout,"Kantoku...Banzai!!!",indeed!!!!!