Japan auteur Kitano’s latest samurai film headed to Cannes

By YURI KAGEYAMA
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Takeshi Kitano’s new film, premiering at the Cannes Film Festival next month, is a samurai story without heroes, mercilessly portraying human greed, betrayal and cruelty. Kitano, awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for his “Hana-Bi” in 1997, wanted to make a different kind of period piece in “Kubi,” or “neck,” a reference to traditional Japanese beheadings. The story features a 16th-century feud centered around Oda Nobunaga, a powerful warlord _ well known in Japan but not as familiar for overseas audiences. But the Shakespearean intrigues are familiar enough. The battle scenes evoke Akira Kurosawa classics like “Seven Samurai.”