Kitano Takeshi

1
Kitano Takeshi

• Mannerist Aestheticism

2
Mannerist Style

• Mannerism - the aesthetic style that uses
  exaggerated and artificial (as opposed to
  naturalistic) expression to produce drama,
  tension, exuberance and grandeur in painting, and
  sculpture.
• Mannerism was born as a reaction to harmonious
  and naturalist ideals of Leonardo, Raphael and
  Michelangelo.

3

• Rafaello Madonna in the Meadow
• Parmigianino Madonna with a Long Neck

4
Kitanos Mannerist Style

• Conventional filmmaking ? Mannerist filmmaking
• STORYTELLING
• Medias res (Latin for into the middle of the
  things) - is a literary and artistic technique
  where the narrative starts in the middle of the
  story instead of from its beginning (ab ovo, or
  ab initio).
• e.g. Martin Scorseses Goodfellas and Quentin
• Trantinos Pulp Fiction

5
Kitanos Mannerist Style Storytelling

• Radical ellipsis
• Ellipsis (Greek for omission) - a narrative
  device omitting a portion of the sequences of
  events, allowing the reader to fill in the
  narrative gaps.
• Kitano omits significant portions of narrative.
• e.g. Ozu Yasujiros films and his own, Kikujiro

6
Kitanos Mannerist Style Storytelling

• Constant narrative diversions
• Episodic storytelling which is only loosely
  connected with the main story line.
• The longest diversion is the middle part of
  Sonatine, in which time seems to have stopped and
  almost absurd episodes are accumulated.

7
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Mise-en-scene of Kitanos films creation of
  ascetic atmosphere
• Stillness, silence, emptiness, nothingness
• Empty sea, empty land, empty school ground, empty
  swimming pool

8
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Empty sea in Okinawa
• Boiling Point

9
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Empty beach
• A Scene at the Sea

10
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Empty road and beach
• Sonatine

11
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Empty school ground and underpath
• Kids Return

12
(No Transcript)
13
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Empty sea with Horibe and empty lake with Nishi
  and his wife
• HANA-BI

14
(No Transcript)
15
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Empty swimming pool and empty river bank
• Kikujiro

16
(No Transcript)
17
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Empty snow-capped mountain top and empty path in
  autumn colours
• Dolls

18
(No Transcript)
19
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Static composition - a shot in which nothing
  moves as if frozen.
• Small subject sizes and protracted shots
• e.g. Murakawas men aftermath of the bombing of
  the Anans office

20
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Mannerist distortions of the cinematic
  conventions
• Spatial treatment and screen composition
• e.g. medium shot of three people with too much
  head space in Boiling Point
• e.g. medium shot of the killer whose face is cut
  by the top edge of the screen

21
(No Transcript)
22
(No Transcript)
23
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Unconventional composition
• Main figures and objects placed in the dead
  centre of the frame
• Textbook composition - main figures and objects
  must be placed slightly off-centre, particularly
  in a widescreen format.

24
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Wim Wenders classic widescreen composition in
  Paris, Texas

25
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Frontal shots - as if you were watching still
  photos.
• Long and medium shots are norm in Kitanos early
  films. More close-ups in his later films, though
  they are not many.

26
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Frontal shots of Azuma
• Violent Cop

27
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Frontal shots of Yakuza, and Uehara and Kazuo
• Boiling Point

28
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Frontal shots of surfers, and Takako and
  Shigerus surfing board
• A Scene at the Sea

29
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Frontal shots of Murakawa and an assassin
• Sonatine

30
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Frontal shots of two kids
• Kids Return

31
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Frontal shots of Nishi and Horibe in the police
  car and Nishi and his wife
• HANA-BI

32
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Frontal shots of Kikujiro after seeing his mother
  and after saying farewell
• Kikujiro

33
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Frontal shots in Dolls

34
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Is there such a thing as Kitano Blue?
• Conscious use of thick blue colour

35
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Conspicuous since Sonatine
• Aesthetic and atmospheric rather than symbolic
  meaning

36
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Started using the colour unconsciously and
  unintentionally
• Conscious use of the colour

37
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Kitano began to use colours more strategically
  after HANA-BI

38
(No Transcript)
39
Kitanos Mannerist Style Mise-en-scène

• Minimalist visual style simple settings (empty
  space) simple compositions (frontal shots)
  simple camera movements (static shots) long take
  
• Minimalist visual style renders Kitanos films
  pensive mood

40
Kitanos Mannerist Style Montage

• Editor since his second film, Boiling Point
• Languid pace, relying on long takes
• ? pensive mood
• Effective use of dissolves and overlaps

41
Kitanos Mannerist Style Montage

• Jagged editing ignoring continuity
• - A scene abruptly cut in the middle of an
  action
• - A scene abruptly begin in the middle of an
  action
• ? Estrangement (endfremden) effects
• ? Preventing the audience from psychologically
  being involved in actions
• ? Action ends abruptly, refusing to show the
  emotional reverberation caused by it. Emotional
  reticence

42
Kitanos Mannerist Style Montage

• Frequent use of cross-cutting
• Contrast and correspondence
• Horibe is painting a lyrical picture while Nishi
  is painting his police car in HANA-BI
• Azuma is playing baseball while his sister is
  gang-raped by yakuza in Violent Cop

43
Reference to Other Films

• Kitano refers to and quotes from other films,
  works of Ozu, Coppola, and Kubrick
• Static shots and frontal composition
• Cross-cutting
• Representation of violence
• Stanley Kubricks An Clockwork Orange and
  Kitanos Violent Cop (openings)
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?voWLByMshYIU