Mishima’s novels are full of masochistic military fantasies and often concerned with reviving Japan’s medieval samurai tradition to redeem a nation disgraced by its defeat in World War II. The militarism, for one, is reminiscent of the life of one of Japan’s most famous literary exports, Yukio Mishima. And Miramax is banking that the July 23 release of the Kitano-directed Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman(in which he also plays the title character) will bring him wider renown.ĭespite Kitano’s global appeal, MXC’s pointed parody of militarism and amped-up violence remain uniquely Japanese. Somewhat fittingly, a handful of American viewers may be familiar with Kitano based on his role as a sadistic game show host (also named Kitano) in 2000’s superb, ultraviolent Japanese cultural satire Battle Royale. After directing a follow-up string of stylish yakuza gangster films, Kitano went on to win the 1997 Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion for Fireworks. Kitano was forced into the director’s seat when the director of a film he was starring in, 1989’s Violent Cop, died. A master of bawdy, scatological humor, Kitano’s Beat persona once startled his audience by describing a romantic encounter with a turd. Kitano first gained fame in the 1970s as comic “Beat” Takeshi. While MXC makes for riveting viewing even without any biographical context, it’s interesting to note that the count is also Takeshi Kitano, an artistically revered film director critics have compared to Scorsese and Ozu. Indeed, among the stupid pratfalls, big swinging balls that knock contestants flat, and splattering mud traps, MXC’s attractive count is never less than imperial, remaining utterly dignified as he unflinchingly surveys the contestants’ genuine screams and grimaces of pain. In his tacky parody of a military uniform, he stands by as common Japanese citizens, equipped only with ill-fitting helmets, worn kneepads, and complete guilelessness, enact strange rituals of machismo and masochism. Through it all, Count Takeshi acts as a sort of Virgil, guiding his contestants through his land of torture and humiliation. Some of the stones are fakes that sink when stepped on, making for excruciating falls. The cause of this particular injury is usually the Skipping Stones challenge, where contestants run at top speed onto stones to reach the other side of a pond. Each episode has a segment called Most Painful Elimination, which consists of slow motion clips featuring Japanese men getting it where it hurts. Like its less-competitive cousin, MTV’s late, lamented Jackass, MXC’s humor often relies on frontal assaults to the groin. Most are hurled into the mud, where Count Takeshi and his nemesis General Lee, dressed in massive shoulder pads decorated by gold-braid epaulets, rush to trip and wrestle the struggling fallen. In the show’s Mushroom Trip, for instance, contestants must hang on to a giant spinning mushroom to reach a platform on the other side of an oozy mud pit. The contests preparing for the siege of the castle are humiliating and painful, and many have more than a tinge of the Freudian about them. The survivors, led by a character named General Lee, then attempt a takeover of the eponymous castle. During the show’s initial contests, players are eliminated until an “army” of 100 survivors remains. Takeshi’s Castle was licensed by Spike TV, renamed Most Extreme Elimination Challenge, and given an occasionally amusing dubbed English narration, performed by two comedians drafted from L.A.’s Groundlings comedy troupe. The show was hosted by “Count” Takeshi Kitano and featured ordinary Japanese citizens navigating a bizarre series of difficult physical contests while attempting to win a series of prizes. MXC’s main footage is taken from the Japanese reality show Takeshi’s Castle, which was a runaway hit from 1985 to 1990 on Tokyo’s NHK network. If Spike TV has anything to communicate beyond beer and boobs, it may be found amid MXC’s Downhill Giant Rice Bowl Slalom and its Eat Shiitake Challenge. But among the MacGyver reruns and commercials for herbal testosterone enhancers resides something oddly artistic and genuinely resonant, an obstacle course reality show titled Most Extreme Elimination Challenge- MXC to its fans (Wednesday through Friday at 11:30 p.m. Billing itself as “the first network for men,” Spike TV appears to be aimed at an audience that lacks the physical energy required to turn the pages of Maxim. Finally, last summer brought the launch of Spike TV, an entire network devoted to reality programming and other low-concept fare-shows like Joe Schmo 2, Trucks! and Pamela Anderson’s Stripperella. Then came the bachelors, bachelorettes, big fat obnoxious fiances, and that reddish, fuzzy thing that makes its home on Donald Trump’s head. First came Big Brother and Survivor, shows that introduced American audiences to reality television’s pungent blend of narcissistic participants, base audience urges, and network executives’ bad faith.
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