| Although strangly, the IMDB now lists Kitano as playing Jyombion Kim, not Shunpei, my only guess is that the name of the character in the book on which it's based has been changed for this movie adaptation. The movie itself opened in Japan on the 6th of Novemeber. Heres a link to the official site. There are also rumours floating about the net of a sequel to Zatoichi happening soon. Let's hope it's all true. --------- 14th July 2004 Sorry for breaking the promise of constant updates, but other things came up (numerous computer troubles mainly, lack of time). But as of now, i'm defnetly going to try my uber best to get this site up and running! So here's a bunch of stuff for you... A review of the recently released UK-DVD for "Getting Any?" (Picture gallery coming soon) An interview with Kitano from around 1998 covering alot of different subjects. The forum is all set up! So please, sign up! And finally some news about Izo, the new Takashi Miike movie starring Sir Kitano. (Which is ofcourse, a match made in Asian Cinema Heaven) The following news taken from kfccinema.com (awesome site, check it out) --------- We have announced a couple of months ago that after being refusing to create his own version of Zatoichi, Japanese director Takashi Miike decided to create his own samurai film called Izo. Thanks to CHUD we finally have the synopsis of the movie. We begin in 1865, when the Shogunate is on its last legs, but still capable of punishing its enemies. One is Izo (Kazuya Nakayama), an assassin in the service of Hanpeida (Ryosuke Miki), a Tosa lord and Imperial supporter. After killing dozens of the Shogun's men, Izo is captured and crucified. Instead of being extinguished, his rage propels him through the space-time continuum to present-day Tokyo, where his finds himself one with the city's homeless. Here Izo transforms himself into a new, improved killing machine, his entire soul still enraged by his treatment in his past life. His response to the powers-that-be, whose predecessors put him to death, is the sword. His ability to leap through time, slashing as he goes, attracts the attention of the lords of the universe, who are like a pre-war House of Peers, in office for eternity. Izo, however, is not about to bow to anyone, even the lords of creation (he even rapes Mother Earth). In the final conflict, the Prime Minister (Takeshi Kitano), calls in allies from all eras, from samurai swordsmen to the yakuza. It should be the most bloody and violent sword fight sequence ever staged." IZO is a remake of Hideo Goshas TENCHU, which ends with the character of Izo Okada being crucified, so it looks like Miike and his team have extrapolated off that to come up with their own story. Official Web site: http://www.izo-movie.com/ --------- Also, the trailer is now up on the official site. Being a Miike fan as well as a Kitano fan i'm extremely looking forward to this one. The trailer is pretty amazing stuff, the film seems like a cross between Miike's 'Ichi The Killer' and a Kurasawa movie...albeit an Uber Violent Kurasawa movie. For some 'behind the scenes' pictures go here. Arigato Yodasnoog 6th December 2003 Well here is the site with a brand new. fresh design. I realised that i had not paId this site alot of attention during the past year, but now i'm going to put alot more work into it again. Because there really isn't enough full websites dedicated to Kitano and i think (as a fan myself) that the fans deserve one. Which was my original reason for starting this site in the first place. So i'll be aiming to be one of the first sites to deliver news on Kitano's latest projects, DVD release dates, interviews, articles and reviews. I'll also be providing little downloads, like desktop wallpaper and picture galleries. A forum will be on its way very soon too (^_^) So, keep checking back in the coming weeks as the site begins to take shape. I hope you enjoy the end result. Arigato Yodasnoog |
| Site deisigned and maintained by Yodasnoog. Created 20/01/2001 Last Update 14/07/2004 |
| Got a question? E Mail Me |
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| ^^Official 'IZO' Site^^ |
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| 30th November 2004 |
| Some news about Kitano's next acting role, which will be in Yoichi Sai's 'Blood and Bones' Taken From IMDB Shunpei is a violent man, working at the fish factory in Osaka. When he is off, he drinks and is continuously consumed by hate. When the factory closes, he becomes a loan shark. That is the simple characteristic of the main character, to be played by Kitano Takeshi. Based upon one of the biggest bestsellers in Korea - the Yamamoto-Syugoro prize winning novel "Chi no Hone" by Yang Sogiru (Sogil Yan) - the film tells the story the story about Yang Sogiru's father, Shunpei, who was amongst the first generation Koreans to live in Japan. |