Top Ten Takeshi!
Please observe:
Eagle-eyed viewers may recognize the host of this peculiar and hilarious segment as none other than Takeshi Kitano, star and director of any number of fine films (including this writer’s personal favorite HANA-BI). Before becoming an internationally acclaimed filmmaker, Kitano was better known, perhaps, as ‘Beat’ Takeshi, one of a pair of comedians. Kitano was the host of a number of Japanese television programs throughout the 1980s, including the painful and hilarious competition program Takeshi’s Castle, better known to American cable viewers as Most Extreme Elimination Challenge, airing pretty much constantly on Spike TV.
Kitano’s career as a filmmaker began in 1989 with Violent Cop, and continues to this day. His new film Achilles and the Tortoise is set to run at the Toronto International Film Festival next month.
All of which has only cemented Kitano’s reputation as one of the finest filmmakers in the world. Kitano is one of our Top Ten Directors - how about checking out his recent film, Takeshis’?
