Chris does Tiff: Achilles and the Tortoise edition

Achilles and the Tortoise

Friday, September 12, 8:30
Ryerson Theatre

My first Takeshi Kitano TIFF experience was watching Brother at the Varsity cineplex at about 9 on a Sunday morning. I was a fledgling film student and Kitano's final arty ultra-violent gangster flick was like nothing I'd ever seen before. Since then I've made it a point to catch every Kitano film that TIFF manages to get its hands on.

Sometimes you get Zatoichi, Kitano's tale of a blind swordsman bringing justice to medieval Japan, or Dolls, his tragic story of love and lonliness....and sometimes you get Takeshis! and Glory to the Filmmaker, expermental bio pics that can challenge even the most devoted fan. S came with me to see Glory to the Filmmaker at the last fest and when Kitano trotted out the penis guitar on screen I turned to see her giving me a look of pity and disgust.

Achilles and the Tortoise is closer to Kitano's experimental bio pic phase then it is to his gangster films, although thankfully the film avoids the outlandish excesses of his previous endeavours. The story deals with young Machisu as he attempts to follow his dream of becoming a painter, despite the great tragedies in his life that threaten to block him.

The film begins with Machisu's clumsy first attempts at painting as a boy, to his efforts at finding his painterly 'voice' as a young man, before jumping forward to the modern day where Kitano takes over the role. The first two stages of Machisu's life are mostly played straight, although with any Kitano film there is always a hint of dark anarchistic comedy. It's the tale of the earnest artist, painstakingly trying to perfect his craft, no matter what the cost.

The film's third act is played for laughs all the way. Here Kitano is sending up the more pretentious elements of the art world, heaping scorn and satirizing the incomprehensible and sometimes outlandish personalities that create 'art'.

This is Kitano's third film that tries to explain how he's done with movie making and how there isn't anything original left for him to say. Throughout his entire life Machisu the painter attempts to create a great work of art but all he ever manages is to copy the works of other great painters. Kitano's career has taken a similar arc, tired of making violent gangster films, that helped craft his public persona, he has eschewed his most familar genre in an attempt at striking out and finding his own voice, with unfortunately mixed results.

This is a modest message film that never pretends it has all the answers to the questions it posits. Kitano is just as unsure as his audience about the true nature and worth of art. He offers moviegoers a little personal insight, a little tragedy and then tries to break the tension by throwing some levity on top of it all. He wants us to think and feel, but not too hard and not too long.

Relax. He says. It's just a movie. It doesn't really matter.