Kikujiro

Starring:Yuuko Daike, Great Gidayu, Fumie Hosokawa, Rakkyo Ide, Makoto Inamiya, Kayoko Kishimoto, Beat Kiyoshi, Nezumi Mamura, Akaji Maro, Hisahiko Murasawa, Fuyu Ooba, Yusuke Sekiguchi, Daigaku Sekine, Yoji Tanaka, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, ShÃ»ji Ã”tsuki
Studio: Sony Pictures
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
When words like "sweet" pop up in a review of a Takeshi Kitano film, you want to check that billing again. But yes, this really is Beat Takeshi, the funkiest dead-eyed gangster in Japanese cinema, in a gooey road movie about a glum orphan and a bumbling would-be tough guy who becomes his droopy guardian angel. The shambling walk is the same, as is the blank expression that twists into a cockeyed smile, and the film erupts (albeit infrequently) into sadistic bouts of petty violence. Takeshi is something between a gruff teddy bear and a bully as the former criminal turned unlikely babysitter who, on a whim, decides to hit the road in search of the kid's long lost mother.

Amazon.com

When words like "sweet" pop up in a review of a Takeshi Kitano film, you want to check that billing again. But yes, this really is Beat Takeshi, the funkiest dead-eyed gangster in Japanese cinema, in a gooey road movie about a glum orphan and a bumbling would-be tough guy who becomes his droopy guardian angel. The shambling walk is the same, as is the blank expression that twists into a cockeyed smile, and the film erupts (albeit infrequently) into sadistic bouts of petty violence. Takeshi is something between a gruff teddy bear and a bully as the former criminal turned unlikely babysitter who, on a whim, decides to hit the road in search of the kid's long lost mother.

Customer Reviews:

Alltimes Best.......2007-05-13

Wonderful story, great morale, and totally hillarious. Great for a family present. I had to get a soundtrack, so much I loved the music.

Worth 116 Minutes of Your Life.......2007-05-06

This is one of my favorite films.

You don't need me to give you a synopsis of the film. Amazon does that. And you certainly don't need for me to tell you about the wonders of Takeshi "Beat" Kitano. That would just be repetitve and make me a blow-hard.

So, I'll simply tell you this--

The film gives us a wonderful glimpse of life in "modern" Tokyo. I was already a fan of Takeshi "Beat" Kitano before I saw this and found this to be a magnificent departure from his more aggressive films. While I admit to not fully understanding all the dancing, my guess is that since they occur largely in the dream/nightmare sequences of a child, it gives us access to his imagination.

It is a heart-warming film and the lengths the many characters go to in order to provide young Masao some fun is endearing. Frankly, you can't beat a Japanese beatnik roaming around in a little van! Kitano plays a small time crook whose on screen wife is terrific, absolutely hysterical.

It's well worth 116 minutes of your life.

How could you not like this movie? .......2007-04-03

It's amazing to me to see that other folks did not 'get' this movie. It's really too bad that some don't have the patience to let the characters play out and unfold. The warmth and compassion of this movie are absolutely beautiful, the comic scenes are 'laugh out loud' funny and is the best movie I've seen in a very long time.

Most surprising film I've seen so far this year........2007-03-05

Kikujiro (Takeshi Kitano, 1999)

It took me all of five minutes to fall hopelessly in love with Kikujiro. And the movie only got better from there.

Kikujiro (Kitano) is a gambler and small-time criminal who's also the neighbor of Masao (Yusuke Sekiguchi in his big-screen debut), a lonely, henpecked kid who lives with his grandmother. Masao's mother, according to his grandmother, is off making money to send to his grandmother for his upkeep; one summer break, Masao decides he's going on a quest to find his mother, and Kikujiro ends up being the kid's guardian on the trip. Kikujiro, however, is not the most responsible of guardians, and after the two blow all of Masao's traveling money betting on bike races, they embark on a journey that shows Masao-- and Kikujiro-- that family isn't always about blood ties.

Kitano was already well-known as a director by the time this movie came out (Violent Cop, Boiling Point, Sonachine, etc.; Hana-Bi regularly shows up on 100-best lists), but was typecast as a yakuza-film director (much as Miike was before starting to come out with movies like The Bird People in China). Kikujiro has often been looked at as a response to that. As a response, I'm not sure it's all that-- it's still blunt around the edges, an action movie with a soft heart and a hard head. But as a simple road movie, it's pure gold. Sekiguchi is one of those terminally cute kids who doesn't have to do anything but sit there and make faces for people to fall in love with him; he does do some acting, though, and he's good enough at it. Kikujiro, of course, is the real main character here, and Kitano is Kitano. His supporting staff are what seal the deal here; they're strong, funny, and real. This is great cinema, folks. **** ½

Not Great, But An Entertaining Film Nonetheless!.......2007-01-07

While I really like Takeshi Kitano, and thought that the film was an okay film, I don't think it was as great as many reviewers have expressed in their reviews. I am surprised at this too, because many of the viewers are ones whose previous reviews I really like. I did not think this was a bad film, however, I did not think it was all that great either. The young child Masao was cute and charming, its just that the film seemed to labor on for quite a while without getting anywhere. Moreover, the film was selected by the Cannes Film Festival as a great film. So maybe I expected too much from the film.

I realize that this was a road film, and the characters were not meant to rush to see Masao's mother, but instead have a journey and experience each others company. Yet this film did not live up to what I was expecting from the film. I thought there were some touching moments in the film, especially in the beginning, when the young child Masao is now on school break, and decides to go and visit his mother whom he has never met. Yet, the film seemed to drag on without going anywhere: at least to me. I would not recommend that you don't view the film, however you might want to rent it first before purchasing it to see if it is your type of film.

The film basically deals with the journey of a young child named Masao, who wants to see the mother he never knew. Takeshi Kitano portrays a petty crook who is given money by his wife to see that Masao makes it safely to his destination. Young Masao is being raised by his grandmother. Along the way they have a problems as Kitano gambles away the money [50,000 yen] at a bicycle race track. This was all the money that his wife gave him to see that young Masao arrives safely at his destination. Now without money, they both resort to hitch-hiking in order to get to their destination. Including taking a taxi [which Kitano can't drive very well]. All in all, not a bad film, just not great either.