ACHILLES AND THE TORTOISE

Young Machisu has the creative spirit of the sprinter, but circumstances conspire to keep him crawling at the pace of the tortoise. There’s too much bad in his life – a bankrupt father, a harsh foster-uncle, hostile schoolteachers – and then, when he grows older, the endless struggle to find and develop a personal style while earning a crust. Kitano himself takes over the role of Makisu in the closing scenes and uses his own paintings throughout to illustrate the character’s travail – and, of course, to parody movements in modern art.