Takeshi Kitano returns to the gangster genre in his next film, Outrage, set for release in June of this year.
The film will star Kitano — who also directs — and the cast includes Ryo Kase, Tomokazu Miura, Kippei Shiina, Jun Kunimura, Tetta Sugimoto, Renji Ishibashi, Fumiyo Kohinata and Takashi Tsukamoto. Here’s the synopsis (via /Film):
The story begins with Sekiuchi (Kitamura Soichiro), boss of the Sannokai, a huge organized crime syndicate controlling the entire Kanto region, issuing a stern warning to his lieutenant Kato (Miura Tomokazu) and right-hand man Ikemoto (Kunimura Jun), head of the Ikemoto-gumi. Kato orders Ikemoto to bring the unassociated Murase-gumi gang in line, and he immediately passes the task on to his subordinate Otomo (Beat Takeshi), who runs his own crew. The tricky jobs that no-one wants to do always end up in Otomo’s lap.
We also finally get a first trailer for the film, and the launch of Outrage’s official website.
Outrage Teaser Trailer: First Footage from Takeshi Kitano’s Gangster Return [/Film]
Thanks for the alert. Very much looking forward to this. Hard to believe it’s really been over a decade since Kikujiro. I’ve pretty much enjoyed everything he’s done in between, but am looking forward to some pure gangster activity.
I’m embarrassed to say I haven’t seen his last few films, but yeah, same here, can’t wait to him doing something in the gangster genre again.
The recent self-conscious trilogy is neat, but having no first-hand experience with his comic persona (having viewed it from an American perspective, I only truly know his hard-ass persona), I’m sure a lot of it is lost on me.
I’d probably say Dolls, if you haven’t seen it yet, is the most thorough and compelling thing he’s done since Kikujiro. Definitely falls into the “hated it the first time I saw it, loved it the second” category that lasting work often does.
Oh, I did in fact like Dolls, was very beautiful to watch. And yes, he truly is seen as a clown here, and so it’s the yakuza films that marked a departure for him.
I remember reading a piece on him in an American magazine a few years ago, and the interviewer was supposed to meet him on the set of one of his many shows, and he didn’t realize that Kitano was there (because he was acting so crazy).
Yeah, Dolls is just a remarkable film — it’s like if Terrence Davies and Julie Taymor had teamed up. Our understanding in the U.S. of Kitano is so Clint Eastwood, and so not the Jerry Lewis he is at home. I’m so uninformed about his comedy, I don’t even know if Jerry Lewis is the correct comparison.