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.