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Kikujiro Director: Takeshi Kitano Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Letterbox Format: Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Running Time: 116 minutes Studio: Columbia/Tristar Studios Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2000-12-12 Buy from Amazon |
 "Poetry In Motion"An ex-gangster in the form of Beat was summoned by his wife to bring a child to find his grandmother who lived afar. And thus, a road trip a.k.a a Don Quixote's adventure was embarked upon by this 2 complete strangers who gradually warmed up to one another & subsequently became the best of friends. Along the way, they came across interesting people, notably a poet/song-writer & 2 bikies who helped the 2 main characters to reach their destination. The film was done in Chapter Forms & what made this movie unique was its blend of sweetness with dark humour, rather disturbing at times. An honest movie & highly enjoyable. The theme song with a simple composition of one melody played over piano & basic strings accompaniment reminded us viewers of the summer harvest season with rabbits romping over the fields truly represented the spirit of this movie. Pure poetry in motion.  "One Star is Generous With Kikujiro"Kikujiro is the only movie that I can remember ever pushing the fast-forward button while watching. Perhaps I have come to expect too much of the Japanese cinema over the past few years, or perhaps my desire for new stories, an intelligent script and good cinematography has left a cold rock buried in my chest for anything less than excellent, but I would consider Kikujiro far from mediocre, and that is being generous. Kikujiro is an old story that is told around the globe at least once a year. It has been a long standing theory of mine that a child as the main character of a film can either make or break a film. In this case, the young boy "Masao" breaks the film. Masao has one reaction to every single interaction that takes place in the film: he bows his head, lowers his eyes and sticks his lip out. This is what the boy does during the entire film, and by the 20th time within the first five minutes of the film you can't help but wonder if there is anything more to the character of this child and the film itself. There isn't. But to blame the blunder of the film upon this one child would make me a simpleton. The script to Kikujiro is not clever. Some films show their mastery through their ability to communicate through short scripts (Kurosawa's "Madadayo"), but Kikujiro's two page script is short of a soul. This film moves slowly, not carefully or beautifully, and the different scenes are completely non sequitur. The film unravels across the screen not like the graceful steps and movements of a Kurosawa film, but much like a hippo in a tutu who has had one too many cups of sake. If you're in the mood to see a touching movie about an unlikely relationship between a hurt child and a hardened adult, and if you want to keep your hope in Japanese cinema alive, don't watch Kikujiro.  "Best I've seen so far."Readers, Though I've only seen his film in VHS, it is perfect! It stretches from humorous to dramatic. The film is about a boy who goes on a trip with a manipulative jerk to find his mother. On the way he encounters lovers, bikers, perverts and many other people. He learns all about how life has its ups and downs. This was one of the best foreign films I've seen that didn't have sexual overtones or excessive drama. I've even given this film to my dyslexic(has problems reading) brother and he loved it! It's a must have movie for the whole family enjoy! "We Must Have Seen a Different Movie"Kikujiro is the only movie that I can remember ever pushing the fast-forward button while watching. Perhaps I have come to expect too much of the Japanese cinema over the past few years, or perhaps my desire for new stories, an intelligent script and good cinematography has left a cold rock buried in my chest for anything less than excellent, but I would consider Kikujiro far from mediocre, and that is being generous. Kikujiro is an old story that is told around the globe at least once a year. It has been a long standing theory of mine that a child as the main character of a film can either make or break a film. In this case, the young boy "Masao" breaks the film. Masao has one reaction to every single interaction that takes place in the film: he bows his head, lowers his eyes and sticks his lip out. This is what the boy does during the entire film, and by the 20th time within the first five minutes of the film you can't help but wonder if there is anything more to the character of this child and the film itself. There isn't. But to blame the blunder of the film upon this one child would make me a simpleton. The script to Kikujiro is not clever. Some films show their mastery through their ability to communicate through short scripts (Kurosawa's "Madadayo"), but Kikujiro's two page script is short of a soul. This film moves slowly, not carefully or beautifully, and the different scenes are completely non sequitur. The film unravels across the screen not like the graceful steps and movements of a Kurosawa film, but much like a hippo in a tutu who has had one too many cups of sake. If you're in the mood to see a touching movie about an unlikely relationship between a hurt child and a hardened adult, and if you want to keep your hope in Japanese cinema alive, don't watch Kikujiro. "a great film, a great story, and some great music......"I first caught the last couple of minutes of this movie on Starz! channel. I thought it was a little weird at first, but then I watched it the whole way through the next time it was on. If you haven't seen this movie yet, you should get either the DVD or VHS version. This is a great film, some people might not like it because of previous films by Takeshi Kitano. Don't let his usual gangster characters turn you off from this movie. His deadpan look, the way he [acts] out at the different people that him and the kid meet along their trip and the best one being the hotel clerk. The thing that made me go soft a little bit was the music at the end. That piano and string piece was great, the kind of music that could make you happy and relaxed anytime you listened to it. In ending this review, I say that if you haven't seen this movie, you should see it at the earliest possible time. |
