Leading Japanese film studio Kadokawa has picked up all rights to “Kubi,” the upcoming film by Kitano Takeshi which will have its premiere out of competition in Cannes. Kadokawa will handle both the international sales and the Japanese commercial release.
The film depicts the historical ‘Honno-ji Incident’ from 1582, when a key vassal of Oda Nobunaga rose in revolt and caused his master to commit hara-kiri in Kyoto. The reasons for the revolt and whether Akechi Mitsuhide was really the ringleader have been debated ever since.
The film will explore the ambitions, betrayals, and fates of various characters, including warlords, ninjas, traveling performers, and peasants, and brings out the essence of Kitano’s world, including intense violence and dark humor.
Speaking at a press event over the weekend, Kitano explained that “This film is based on my own understanding of what the period and people were like,” and it will definitely not all be pretty pictures and uplifting moments. Kitano has been planning to make this film for some 30 years – he says it was conceived around the same time as his “Sonatine – and, in addition to directing, the movie, wrote the original novel and screenplay himself.
“It is a rare film, on a scale similar to Akira Kurosawa’s ‘The Seven Samurai’ and ‘Kagemusha,’ with a tragicomic quality that feels Shakespearean, said Natsuno Takeshi, president and representative director of Kadowkawa.
The film was made with a budget of JPY1.5 billion ($11.2 million), far bigger than most Japanese movies, and stars Asano Tadanobu, Nishijima Hidetoshi and Kase Ryo, who have name recognition abroad, among a large ensemble cast.
A Cannes selection for his latest is a PR plus, but an award in the competition, which has so far eluded him, despite past wins of Silver and Golden Lions at Venice, would obviously be a bigger boost.
Kitano has won Golden and Silver Lions at Venice, for 1997 film “Hana-Bi” and for 2003 “Zatoichi,” respectively, and saw his 2017 film “Outrage: The Final Chapter” selected as the Venice closing film. But he has so far failed to score top honors at Cannes.
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