What is Cinema?

When you have a film titled "Neck" (the literal English translation of the Japanese title "Kubi") and the director happens to be Takeshi Kitano, then you can pretty much foretell how it will turn out to be. Those who have followed Kitano's entire filmmaking career will not be disappointed. Indeed, "Kubi" (2023) is very much a Kitano film. This is his second period film after "Zatoichi" back in 2003 and comes after the three-part yakuza saga "Outrage" (2010, 2012 and 2017). Kitano is well-known for his deadpan, quirky and brutal yakuza crime-dramas and the fact is that, in "Kubi," he transports his Japanese gangsters to 16th-century feudal Japan and turns them into warring and conniving warlords and vassals. The setting and timeline may have changed, but the characters and their dynamics are essentially the same.  "Kubi" is a sprawling tale (based on Kitano's own novel) and just like the "Outrage" tr...