Zeno's paradoxes are ancient mind games that undermine common-sense assumptions about reality. In the most famous, "Achilles and the Tortoise," a fast runner and a tortoise start at the same time toward the same goal, the tortoise with a head start — say it must cover 10 meters while the runner must sprint 100 to the finish line. Can the runner overtake the tortoise and win?
No, says the paradox, since when the runner reaches the tortoise's starting line, the tortoise will have moved to point A. When the runner reaches point A, the tortoise will have moved to point B, and when the runner reaches point C, the tortoise will be at point D, ad infinitum. But would you bet on a tortoise against Usain Bolt?
In Takeshi Kitano's new film, "Achilles to Kame (Achilles and the Tortoise)," the runner is a hapless artist named Machisu, the tortoise the art he is seeking to master and, later in life, the success he is trying to win.