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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 |
 "Not Kitano's usual, but it's worth it."This is not what most Takeshi Kitano fans expect from him. If you view this with no pre-conceptions of his previous style of films, you will see that this is a piece of art. "Kikujiro"This movie was amazing. It was deep. It was light. It was intellectual. But most importantly this movie was hilarious. I loved it! A definite rental must, 9 out of 10 you'l by it after you see it! "Unexpected Takeshi - Just as Expected"Takeshi Kitano's follow-up after Fireworks (Hana-Bi). This time around, he's going with a gentler road tale about a young dumpy boy and the gangster Kikujiro (played by Takeshi himself) who's taking him to see his mother during summer vacation. The story examines the way the boy sees the world and the effect it has on his new fellow friend. The result came up to a beautiful poetic and subtle movie. I found it brilliant. Definitely Kitano essential. ~G. "Kikujiro is a heartwarming magical treat!"With the deaths of Akira Kurosawa and Juzo Itami, I wondered if there was anybody who could take their place. The answer came in the form of Takeshi Kitano's 1999 release, Kikujiro. Funny, tender, heartbreaking, full of hope are a few adjectives I'd use to describe this brilliant movie. The story involves Masao, a sad-faced Tokyo boy who lives with his grandmother. With his best friend going away to the sea, he only has a long lonely summer ahead of him. After finding a snap of his mother, along with an address in Toyohashi, Masao wants to go visit her. Thanks to a married couple who are friends of his grandmother, he gets his wish. As the woman says, "Someone must accompany you." The next shot shows exactly who that somebody is; it is her husband, Kikujiro, and he's not too thrilled. Kikujiro, played by Takeshi Kitano, is an unemployed former small-time yakuza, as evidenced by a horrifying tattoo on his back. He is selfish, lacking in common sense, financially irresponsible, bullying and insulting people into getting his own way. Poor Masao has to suffer through Kikujiro's bullying, not only toward him but to those they encounter. Kikujiro gambles away all their travelling money at the bike races. His reactions and outbursts after each race result are simply funny. A constant problem is getting a ride to Toyohashi, and Kitano injects a comic element in their hapless attempts. Kikujiro even bullies a hotel desk attendant to abandon his duties and drive them, which he does to a truck stop. There, he picks a fight with a trucker disgruntled by his abruptness. Kikujiro not only smashes his driver's side truck window with a rock but beats him with a stick(!) Kikujiro's attempts to finagle a ride playing a blind man come to naught. One driver refuses, to which Kikujiro insults him and in the process, blows his cover. The other driver simply hits him without stopping. Another time, they try to get a car by placing a nail in the middle of the road. The car's tire blows out and careens down an embankment, to which the pair leg it down the highway. The next scene, they are in a car, to which Masao tells his guardian how better it is to simply ask, to which Kikujiro says, "Shut up, smartass." Of the strangers whom they encounter, the Travelling Man, an idealistic poet who travels across Japan singing songs and reading poetry, is the nicest of the bunch, and not only is it he who takes them to Toyohashi but also suggests they camp at a beach for a few days. Second place goes to a teenage girl, who persuades her boyfriend to take the pair at least partway. She masterfully juggles oranges and has her boyfriend imitate a coin-op toy that does a hip-hop dance. Kitano adds mechanical sound effects during his performance. The scene where Masao and Kikujiro reach Toyohashi and discover what has happened to Masao's mother is simply heart wrenching. Not as heartbreaking is when Kikujiro goes to where his own mother resides, but it is the first scene where Kikujiro softens towards the boy. When he suggests they go back home, Masao holds his hand for the first time. Kikujiro's bullying ways finally catch up to him at a fair, where the local yakuza beat him up. He apologizes to Masao for causing trouble, and from here, his transformation is complete. Two bikers who join Masao, Kikujiro, and the Travelling Man at the beach, are actually pussycats, despite the Nazi helmets worn by the pair and the Danzig III T-shirt worn by the fat biker. Kikujiro, having met them earlier after finding out about Masao's mother, bullies the fat one into giving him an angel bell charm. He gives the said charm to Masao as a consolation gift and tells him that an angel will come if he rings the bell. Masao rings the bell, to no avail. Well, at least for a while, anyway. The few days spent at the beach to entertain Masao form the best moments of the movie. There, Kikujiro displays his talent as a promoter or show organizer. His gruffness and insults return at times, but overall, he has fun. Among his best devised schemes involve placing a hollowed watermelon rind over the fat biker and having Masao strike him on the head. Another is the Naked Statues game, a strip version of America's "Green Light/Red Light." The skinnier biker, nicknamed Baldy, really enjoys himself, playing an Indian, an octopus man, and a space alien. The fat biker, Fatso, has the misfortune of falling into a pit used by farmers for depositing their animal waste for future fertilizer. The others laugh and run away from their smelly companion. One of the most interesting things about foreign movies is how the translations come across. Two scenes in particular: when the pervert, in response to Kikujiro's question of what happens after he pulls down his pants, the subtitles say "You know." I was born in Japan and understand some Japanese. What the pervert actually said was "I (...) it." The subtitles as presented is more tasteful and diplomatic. Joe Hisashi's wonderful piano score is simply beautiful, and some parts really softened me. Masao discovers his guardian's name until the final scene, cementing the special bond formed during their travels together. If Kikujiro is a sign of the new Takeshi Kitano, let's have more of it! "Great Movie, Heartwarming"It was the first movie I had seen by Beat Takeshi, so I had no prior expectations. At first I found the movie disturbing (and my wife almost had me turn it off), but about a third into it the tone and pace changed, and it turned out to be one of the most heartwarming films I have seen in ages. I still hear that little song dance in my head, simple and infective. A great film that I still think about from time to time. |
