Just got back from it. I think it’s safe to say the movie is certainly not going to be everyones cup of tea. ^^

“Achilles and the Tortoise” is Takeshi Kitano’s latest movie. It tells the story of Machisu - a guy that loves to paint but struggles to create something that might get him recognized as an artist. Let’s say the story is as simple as that to avoid spoilers.

The first half of the movie deals with Machisu’s quite sad and depressing childhood. It is a rather lengthy and quiet part of the movie and Yuki Kajiura’s score is unfortunately sticking out like a sore thumb in all the quiet scenes (plus half of the BGMs used start out the same). The 2nd half is Machisu’s “manhood” - a laugh out loud funny riot thanks to the quirkiness of the leads (Machisu and Sachiko) - be warned that it’s black humour, as the events presented are still really sad. Music is also utilized better here, perhaps because there’s more going on.

If I had to critisize anything it’d probably be the rather off-beat optimistic ending and the length of the childhood parts - things really don’t pick up in any way until the “manhood” half, but that could be because the movie was not what I was expecting - I thought it would be a whole movie with Kitano & Higuchi (most of the advertising was with them, and they don’t appear until the last 3rd of the movie or so), rather than Machisu’s life story. I probably didn’t get the title metaphor (was it supposed to be Machisu’s attempts to be recognized as an artist or something else? He did apparently catch up with the Tortoise in the end… so Iono…), but was happy to recognize several actors and would love to see the movie again - DVD on February 20. ^^