Takeshi Kitano: Achilles and the Tortoise (2008)

(video by Japan Society NYC)

A small boy seems to have a wonderful gift for painting, and that's what he's doing all day long, painting. As his father is very rich everybody is encouraging the boy. The father bankrupts and commits suicide, followed by the mother, the boy remains alone and he continues painting, against all odds. And painting is what he'll do for all his life, against all odds, sacrificing everything, his life, his self-respect and the respect of the others, his family, everything, never getting public recognition.

That's the story in Achilles and the Tortoise (アキレスと亀, Akiresu to Kame'), made by Takeshi Kitano in 2008. A story that's tragic, while put before us with a mix of surrealism and black humor. Behind the story there are autobiographical elements. It comes in the life of director Takeshi Kitano after a long artistic career, during which he tried different ways.

I've read about it that's the third movie in a louse trilogy, dealing with the condition of the artist. I didn't watch the other movies, so I'll speak only about this one.



The title sends to the well-known paradox of Zeno: Achilles can never catch the tortoise though the distance between them gets smaller and smaller. Here in the movie it is the artist playing Achilles, while the tortoise is the never reached public recognition.

It is a movie about art and artists, about their place, their value, their meaning. A movie that is itself an exquisite artwork, a lesson of modern art. As I was watching it each image was cutting my breath.

Exquisite and disturbing, and as autobiographical suggestions are loosely implied, this movie might be, to a certain extent, a form of exorcism. A beautiful movie putting bluntly brutal questions. Is art necessary? Is it moral to be an artist? Is the artist just a mentally disturbed guy, a deviant? And, when becomes an artwork truly unique?



This movie does not give simple solutions, actually it shows how complicated are the answers. The name of Turkish writer Elif Shafak comes here in my mind, she was saying in an interview that art (in this case this movie) should not come with quick fixes, rather it should look for all nuances, making matters more complicated.




(Takeshi Kitano)