The first details of Takeshi Kitano’s secretive project Broken Rage have been revealed ahead of its world premiere at the 81st Venice Film Festival.
It has emerged that the latest feature by the veteran Japanese actor and filmmaker is the project that Amazon MGM Studios announced it was producing in June. It means that Broken Rage is the first Japanese film produced for streaming to be officially selected for Venice and will premiere at the festival on September 6. The feature will stream exclusively on Prime Video in 2025.
When first announced as part of the Venice line-up, no plot details or cast were revealed, aside from Kitano under his stage name Beat Takeshi. But it has now been confirmed that the 62-minute film has an unorthodox structure, with the first half comprising a gritty action film that unfolds in a dark criminal underworld revolving around a hitman, played by Kitano, while the second follows the same story scene-by-scene but seen through the lens of a comedy parody.
The cast includes Tadanobu Asano, who starred in Kitano’s Zatoichi and Kubi and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Shogun, playing the lead detective trying to coerce the hitman into cooperating as an undercover informant in a drug investigation. Nao Omori, who has appeared in five of Kitano’s films, including Dolls, Achilles and the Tortoise, Outrage Coda and Kubi, also plays a detective.
The role of the yakuza boss overseeing the drug trade is played by Shido Nakamura, who made his debut in Kubi, while the role of the young boss is played by Hakuryu, who has also appeared in numerous Kitano films.The ensemble cast also includes Takashi Nishina (Kubi), So Kaku and popular comedians Gekidan Hitori, Masanori Hasegawa, Azusa Babazono, and Mogura Suzuki.
It is produced by Naoki Ibusuki of Kitano Agency, also known as T.N. GON, the talent agency Kitano founded after leaving Office Kitano in 2018. World sales are handled by Amazon MGM Studios and Amazon Japan GK.
Broken Rage plays out of competition at Venice, where Kitano has previously played Fireworks (aka Hana-bi), which won the Golden Lion in 1997; Dolls in 2002; and Zatoichi, which won four awards including the Silver Lion for best director in 2003. Further titles include Takeshis’, Achilles And Tortoise and Beyond Outrage, which played in Competition in 2005, 2008 and 2012 respectively. His action crime drama Outrage Coda closed the festival in 2017.
Kitano said of Broken Rage: “It’s really a film that dares a new style. I would be overwhelmed if everyone liked it.”
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