Director Kitano “Beat” Takeshi (56) didn’t quite manage to repeat his 1997 achievement of winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. But he did manage to take the Director’s Award. He’s the first Japanese to win the award since Mizoguchi Kenji with The Life of Oharu in 1952. Coincidentally, the award was announced on the anniversary of the death of another film giant Kurosawa Akira. Meanwhile in the Contro Corrente parallel competition section, Asano Tadanobu (photo, 29) won the award for Best Actor for his performance in the Thai entry “Last Life in the Universe.”