Glory to the Filmmaker!

Glory to the Filmmaker! (監督·ばんざい!) is a 2007 Japanese film written, directed, edited by the film's lead star Takeshi Kitano. It is the second film in Kitano's surrealist autobiographical trilogy, following Takeshis', and concluding with Achilles and the Tortoise.

Style
The comedy crosses a broad range of genres common to Japanese film in a fashion similar to Getting Any?, Kitano's 1995 parody. Kitano described the film as "a cinematic extension of his manzai comedy routines that continues in much the same vein as his last feature, the similarly eclectic Takeshis'."

Plot
Kitano plays a hapless film director in search of a commercial hit, while suffering failure after failure as he tries out different genres.

Cast

 * Takeshi Kitano
 * Tōru Emori
 * Kayoko Kishimoto
 * Anne Suzuki
 * Keiko Matsuzaka
 * Yoshino Kimura
 * Kazuko Yoshiyuki
 * Yuki Uchida
 * Akira Takarada
 * Yumiko Fujita
 * Ren Osugi
 * Susumu Terajima
 * Naomasa Musaka

Reception
In 2007, the Venice Film Festival introduced a new award named after the film; Kitano was the first recipient of this Glory to the Filmmaker! award.