MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

jacquesf-1 "Kantoku banzai!" is a very strange movie to see. Much like the "Adaptation", it is - in a way - a movie about itself being made.Takeshi Kitano plays himself as a director who's trying to shoot movies in all possible genres but never really manages to do so. But much more than about the lack of success in those movies, "Kantoku banzai" seems to be about Kitano's being tired of all those genres with this movie eventually turning into a quite chaotic meddle of all previously presented genres. But contrary to the "Adaptation", "Kantoku banzai" doesn't try to put it all together into a coherent story so we're left with a bunch of very loosely connected clips ranging from regular slapstick comedy sketches (the karate scene is hilarious!!!) through slightly crazy scenes to some utterly insane and absurd brainstorming. That may be confusing when you try to make sense of the movie but I think it basically is what the movie is about - the director doing whatever he wants to.This all would make for a really great movie, the only shame is that it sometimes tends to be long and gets a little boring, especially near the end.

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.

Richard I saw this film at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival.Glory to the Filmmaker! is the latest work from the mind of Takeshi Kitano. Featuring a slightly fictionalized version of himself, the film follows Kitano in a search for his next big hit, following his public declaration that he would stop doing Yakuza movies. In a wild and funny journey, Kitano takes us through his failed, aborted, and commercially unsuccessful attempts, featuring a number of co-stars from his past movies. The journey spans every genre imaginable, from a quiet, introspective story of a just-retired salaryman (reminiscent of the works of Ozu), to a ninja action film, to multiple relationship stories, to a film set in the 50's recalling the hardship and depression of post-war Japan, before finally settling on an offbeat sci-fi flick.That film is ostensibly about an asteroid hurtling towards Earth, but soon diverts to a story about mother-daughter con artists who are trying to scam Kitano's character, an aide to an eccentric rich man who funds all sorts of oddball causes. All the while, Kitano is constantly changing into a life-sized doll version of himself. And if none of that makes any sense, then you've pretty much captured the feeling of watching that part of the movie.Kitano was not present at the screening, but he (or rather, his doll surrogate) taped an interview for the festival that preceded the film, which pretty much set the tone for what was to follow. The film is about as self-referential as his last work screened at the festival, Takeshis'. The first half of the movie was surprisingly accessible and hilarious, but the second was as impenetrable, surreal, and self-mocking as you'd come to expect of Kitano's later work. Not that that is a bad thing, but don't come into it expecting anything resembling a straightforward narrative. If you're a fan of Kitano's work and his fertile imagination, then you'll enjoy the film, but I imagine many others will be lost in the last half of the picture.

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!!!!!