Takeshi Kitano (北野 武, Kitano Takeshi, born January 18, 1947), also known as Beat Takeshi (ビートたけし, Bīto Takeshi), is a Japanese comedian, actor, and filmmaker. While he is known primarily as a comedian and TV host in his native Japan, he is better known abroad for his work as a filmmaker and actor as well as TV host. During his time as a student at Meiji University, he became a comedian at the strip theater France-za in Asakusa, Tokyo. In 1973, he formed a comedy duo called Two Beat with Kiyoshi Kaneko, who later became Beat Kiyoshi. Kitano adopted the stage name Beat Takeshi. Riding the wave of the comedy boom, he gained popularity with satirical and sharp-tongued black humor.
In the 1980s, he appeared in TV shows such as Oretachi Hyōkin-zoku which recorded the highest viewership rating of 29.1%, and Takeshi’s Castle which recorded 24.7%, becoming explosively popular on television. He made his directorial debut with Violent Cop (1989), with with Maiko Kawakami, Makoto Ashikawa, Hakuryu, Ken Yoshizawa, and Ittoku Kishibe.
Films directed in the 1990s include Boiling Point (1990), with Yūrei Yanagi, Yuriko Ishida, and Dankan; A Scene at the Sea (1991), with Claude Maki, Hiroko Ohshima, Sabu Kawahara, Susumu Terajima, Katsuya Koiso, and Tetsu Watanabe; Sonatine (1993), with Susumu Terajima, Ren Ōsugi, and Ken’ichi Yajima, Getting Any (1995), with Dankan, Sonomanma Higashi, Tokie Hidari, and Shouji Kobayashi; Kids Return (1996), with Masanobu Andō, Ken Kaneko, Leo Morimoto, Hatsuo Yamatani, Michisuke Kashiwaya, Mitsuko Oka, Yuuko Daike, and Ryo Ishibashi; Hana-bi (1997), with Kayoko Kishimoto, Ren Osugi, and Susumu Terajima; and Kikujiro (1999), with Yusuke Sekiguchi, Kayoko Kishimoto, and Yūko Daike.
Films directed in the 2000s include Brother (2000), with Omar Epps, Claude Maki, and Tetsuya Watari; Dolls (2002), with Miho Kanno, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Tatsuya Mihashi, Chieko Matsubara, Kyoko Fukada, and Tsutomu Takeshige; Zatoichi (2003), with Tadanobu Asano, Michiyo Okusu, Yui Natsukawa, Guadalcanal Taka, Daigoro Tachibana, Yuko Daike, Ittoku Kishibe, Saburo Ishikura, and Akira Emoto; Takeshis’ (2005), with Susumu Terajima and Kotomi Kyono; Glory to the Filmmaker! (2007), with Tōru Emori, Susumu Terajima, Yuki Uchida, Anne Suzuki, and Ren Osugi; and Achilles and the Tortoise (2008), with Kanako Higuchi, Yurei Yanagi, and Kumiko Asō.
Films directed in the 2010s and 2020s include Outrage (2010), with Kippei Shiina, Ryo Kase, Tomokazu Miura, and Jun Kunimura; Beyond Outrage (2012), with Toshiyuki Nishida and Tomokazu Miura; Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen (2015), with Tatsuya Fuji, Masaomi Kondō, Akira Nakao, Tōru Shinagawa, Ben Hiura, Kōjun Itō, Ken Yoshizawa, and Akira Onodera; Outrage Coda (2017), with Toshiyuki Nishida; Kubi (2023), with Hidetoshi Nishijima, Ryo Kase, Nakamura Shidō II, Tadanobu Asano, Nao Ōmori, and Yūichi Kimura; Broken Rage (2024), with Tadanobu Asano, Nao Omori, Hakuryu, Shidō Nakamura,
Notable films he acted in without directing include Nagisa Ōshima’s Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), with David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Jack Thompson; Johnny Mnemonic (1995), with Keanu Reeves, Dolph Lungdren, Dina Meyer, and Ice-T; Takashi Ishii’s Gonin (1995), with Kōichi Satō and Masahiro Motoki; Jean-Pierre Limosin’s Tokyo Eyes (1998), with Shinji Takeda and Hinano Yoshikawa; Kinji Fukasaku’s Battle Royale (2000), with Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Tarō Yamamoto, Chiaki Kuriyama, Kou Shibasaki, and Masanobu Andō; Takashi Miike’s Izo (2004), with Kazuya Nakayama and Bob Sapp; and Ghost in the Shell (2017), with Scarlett Johansson, Michael Pitt, Pilou Asbæk, Chin Han and Juliette Binoche.
Each review will be linked to the title below.
(*seen originally in theaters)
(**seen rereleased in theaters)
- Go, Go, Second Time Virgin (1969) – directed by Kōji Wakamatsu – uncredited actor
- Makoto (1980) – directed by Tsutomu Shibayama – actor
- Convoy of Japan (1981) – directed by Ikuo Sekimoto – actor
- Dump Migratory Bird Manon (1981) – directed by Yôichi Higashi – actor
- Completely… With That Air! (1981) – directed by Tsugunobu Kotani – actor
- Secret of Summer (1982) – directed by Kawakami Hiromichi – actor
- Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983) – directed by Nagisa Ōshima – actor
- Mosquito on the Tenth Floor (1983) – directed by Yôichi Sai – actor
- I’m Joking, I Feel Sad (1985) – directed by Masaharu Segawa – actor
- Yasha (1985) – directed by Yasuo Furuhata – actor
- Koiko no Mainichi (1986) – directed by Mitsuhiko Kuze – actor – TV movie
- Comic Magazine (1986) – directed by Yōjirō Takita – actor
- Mukôda Kuniko futatabi: Kiiroi bara ga sukidatta (1988) – directed by Iwao Shinogi – actor – TV movie
- Koiko no Mainichi II (1988) – directed by Mitsuhiko Kuze – actor – TV movie
- Anego (1988) – directed by Ryûichi Takamori – actor
- Violent Cop (1989) – actor, uncredited writer, director
- A Hoshi (1990) – directed by Kazuo ‘Gaira’ Komizu – actor
- Boiling Point (1990) – actor, writer, director
- Money Fight (1991) – directed by Masaaki Odagiri – actor – TV movie
- A Scene at the Sea (1991) – writer, director, editor
- A Legend of Turmoil (1992) – directed by Akiyoshi Kimata – actor
- Dioxin from Fish! (1992) – directed by Ryûdô Uzaki – actor
- Erotic Liaisons (1992) – directed by Kôji Wakamatsu – actor
- Sonatine (1993) – actor, writer, director, actor
- Many Happy Returns (1993) – directed by Toshihiro Tenma – actor
- Getting Any? (1995) – actor, writer, director, editor
- Johnny Mnemonic (1995) – Robert Longo – actor
- Gonin (1995) – directed by Takashi Ishii – actor
- Kids Return (1996) – writer, director, editor
- Hana-bi (1997) – actor, writer, director, editor
- Tokyo Eyes (1998) – directed by Jean-Pierre Limosin – actor
- Kikujiro (1999) – actor, writer, director, co-editor
- Taboo (1999) – directed by Nagisa Ōshima – actor
- Remains of Chivalry Zankyo (1999) – directed by Ikuo Sekimoto – actor
- Brother (2000) – actor, writer, director, actor
- Battle Royale (2000) – directed by Kinji Fukasaku – actor
- San Oku En Jiken (2000) – directed by Meiji Fujita – actor TV movie
- Dolls (2002) – writer, director, editor
- Kichiku (2002) – directed by Noboru Tanaka – actor – TV movie
- Battle Royale II: Requiem (2003) – directed by Kinji & Kenta Fukasaku – actor
- Zatoichi (2003) – actor, writer, director, co-editor
- Izo (2004) – directed by Takashi Miike – actor
- Blood and Bones (2004) – directed by Yōichi Sai – actor
- Takeshis’ (2005) – actor, writer, director, co-editor
- Wada Akiko satsujin jiken (2007) – directed by Tsuyoshi Katayama – actor – TV movie
- To Each His Own Cinema (2007) – directed with Raymond Depardon, Andrei Konchalovsky, Theo Angelopoulos, Andrei Konchalovsky, Nanni Moretti, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, Joel & Ethan Coen, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Zhang Yimou, Amos Gitai, Jane Campion, Atom Egoyan, Aki Kaurismäki, Olivier Assayas, Youssef Chahine, Tsai Ming-liang, Lars von Trier, Raoul Ruiz, Claude Lelouch, Gus Van Sant, Roman Polanski, Michael Cimino, David Cronenberg, Wong Kar-wai, Abbas Kiarostami, Billie August, Elia Suleiman, Manoel de Oliveira, Walter Salles, Wim Wenders, Chen Kaige, Ken Loach, & David Lynch – anthology
- Glory to the Filmmaker! (2007) – actor, writer, director, co-editor
- Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit (2008) – directed by Minoru Kawasaki – voice
- Achilles and the Tortoise (2008) – actor, writer, director, editor
- Ano sensô wa nandattano ka – Nichibei kaisen to Tôjô Hideki (2008) – directed by Shin’ichi Kamoshita – actor – TV movie
- Outrage (2010) – actor, writer, director, co-editor
- Kikou (2010) – directed by Shin’ichi Kamoshita – actor – TV movie
- Dearest (2012) – directed by Yasuo Furuhata – actor
- Beyond Outrage (2012) – actor, writer, director, editor
- Black Gospel (2015) – directed by Kan Ishibashi – actor
- Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen (2015) – actor, writer, director, co-editor
- Mozu (2015) – directed by Eiichirō Hasumi – actor
- Red Medaka (2015) – directed by Hideta Takahata – actor – TV movie
- A Living Promise (2016) – directed by Kan Ishibashi – actor
- While the Women Are Sleeping (2016) – directed by Wayne Wang – actor
- Doctor X: Gekai Daimon Michiko Special (2016) – directed by Naoki Tamura – actor – TV movie
- Ghost in the Shell (2017) – directed by Rupert Sanders – actor
- Hagoku (2017) – directed by Yoshihiro Fukagawa – actor – TV movie
- Outrage Coda (2017) – actor, writer, director, co-editor
- Two Homelands (2019) – directed by Hideta Takahata – actor – TV movie
- Kubi (2023) – actor, writer, director, co-editor
- Broken Rage (2024) – actor, writer, director, co-editor
I Review Stuff 