Japan's Takeshi Kitano 'a bit embarrassed' as new film shows at Venice

By Crispian Balmer

VENICE (Reuters) - Japanese cult director Takeshi Kitano said on Friday he was "a bit embarrassed" by his new movie being premiered at Venice, explaining that he never expected it to get seen at the prestigious film festival.

"Broken Rage" was commissioned by TV streamer Amazon and runs at barely an hour with Kitano directing, writing and starring in the picture.

It takes him back to his comic roots, with an initial spurt of gangster violence soon giving way to slapstick humour as the same crime story is told twice over -- once seriously and once for laughs.

"I did not expect it to be presented at a festival like this," Kitano told a news conference. "I don't know, I should have done better. I should have been more serious about it," he added, speaking through a translator.

Kitano, 77, is a darling of the film festival circuit and won Venice's top honour, the coveted Golden Lion, in 1997 for "Hana-Bi", or "Fireworks". His last film "Kubi", or "Neck", a blood-splattered Samurai tale, was shown at Cannes last year.

He told reporters that his success in Europe had enabled him to win recognition in his more conservative homeland, which did not initially appreciate his switch from doing stand-up comedy to directing big films.

"In Japan, we still have a sort of traditional view, a sort of conservative approach. And therefore, I just enjoy being in international festivals," he said, sporting purple-tinged hair.

Breaking the traditional film-making mould, "Broken Rage" includes brief interludes of social media chat with people commenting on the film in real time.

Kitano said the rapid-fire posts, which drew belly-laughs in Venice, helped pad out the film and also connect the two halves.

"It's a way of filling up some gaps, like changing the scenes, you know," he said, adding that he had thought the film would run for longer than it did.

"The idea was good, but then I think that I was kind of wrong in determining how long it should be," he said. "I thought that I would have a very long film, and instead I ended up having a pretty short film."

"Broken Rage", which also stars Tadanobu Asano and Nao Ômori, is being shown out of competition in the Venice Film Festival, which closes on Saturday.

(Reporting by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Hugh Lawson)