just noted your tag line - Kitano is a favorite of mine. Oddly enough one of his ' newer ' films is the one I first saw him in: Kikujiro. A real beauty of a movie and a real favorite of mine.
I became a Takeshi fan by pure accident less than a year ago when I saw Sonatine and Zatoichi. Now I have all his films on DVD. If I were younger I'd take up learning Japanese so I could enjoy his films in their original state.
Kitano is a genius. The greatest living filmmaker (and a pretty good writer, the funniest Japanese comedian, a former talented semi-pro baseball player and a great tap dancer, among other things.)
I practically worship the man. He is one of a kind.