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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 |
 "a heart-stealing"This is such a wonderful film. Not only does it captures the simplistic beauty of the culture, and also depicts the intensity of emotions through unspoken words and gestures by the child. Beat recoiled from the idealistic trend of a 'fairy-tale' happy-ending story, yet effortlessly wins the audience's heart by replacing the love of the boy's mother with a guardian angel disguised as the insolent thuggish babysitter. Some of the scenes were just hilarious, especially when the thug attempts to swim at the hotel pool wearing a lifefloat and ended up sinking head-down leaving the boy and the concierge looking dumbfounded and had to be rescued out. There are just too many special moments embedded through out such as picking winning numbers at the race, octopus man, the Martian, the lil guardian angel ornament etc. The moral of the story is that beneath all facet of human sordid facets, there's something universally humane and compassionate in each of us. When we don't get what we want, life surprises us with something better. It reminds me of the quote "if life gives you lemons, make some lemonade." There are some intransitive scenes inappropriately and awkwardly delivered ... the reappearance of the spooky dreams. Nonetheless, this movie is a delight to watch, you can't help but to fall in love with the cast. If you enjoy this one, also watch "Showers" directed by Zhang Yang.  "Kikujiro"When I first looked at Kikujiro in a Blockbuster Video Store, I couldn't expect too much from it, and I wasn't very enthusiastic. Even when i began to watch it, it was somewhat gloomy. But then as I progressed through the movie I absolutely loved it. This bittersweet movie captures the real power of life and goes deeper than to be expected by a director renowned for his gangster movies. The sad drama of it and the hilarity on the outside really do make this an instant classic. Now if it was only released more widespread in the US, we'd be golden. "not where his bread is buttered"Takeshi Kitano, of Sonatine and Violent Cop fame, acts like a mild(er) middle aged thug man who befriends a young boy, in this touching, sad, and funny little movie set in present-day Japan. A little boy, who looks like he is maybe 7 years old, takes off on foot to search for his mother. He lives with his grandmother, who tells him his mother is far away, and working very hard for him. Soon after he leaves with the house, he runs into Kikujiro, whom he just calls "mister." "Mister" is probably a low level thug in some gangster group. Anyway, he's not too keen on kids, but his girlfriend sees that the boy takes off with mister, and they start across the country to find the boy's mother. At times this movie is very sad. The little boy has a timeless quality that many a child has evoked in the cinema, from 400 Blows to My Life as a Dog. When he acts sad, he seems to be so genuinely sad that when he finally does smile, you're that much happier for him. Kitano doesn't know how to handle life with a kid, at first, but being around him seems to lighten the old boy up. Still, he plays the stone faced unemotional thug through the movie, though he (almost) doesn't beat anyone up. Later, mister and the kid encounter a few oddball characters. They all do what they can to cheer the kid up. This is a great movie. I wouldn't recommend it for children (children wouldn't like much of it anyway, the humor is so lowkey), but I came to this movie with moderate expectations, and they were exceeded. Takeshi Kitano stepped outside the roles that butter his bread, and helped to make this great movie KIKIJURO. Big ups to Takeshi Kitano. More ups to Yusuke Sekiguchi for his portrayal of the kid. ken32 "Plenty of Action, Just not the kind You Would Expect"Kikujiro is a fantastic movie that really surprised me. I was curious to see what would happen when Takeshi "Beat" Kitano stepped outside of his usual role so I decided to rent it. The story is interesting because it shows what happens to a tough guy who unexpectedly becomes responsible for a young boy's welfare. The story uses a lot of symbology and fantastic departures from reality that give this movie an almost fairy tale feel, then moves to the reality that young children need to be provided food and shelter. Many of the people that the two main characters run into seem to serve two roles, they all have their surface level interaction, but they all briefly take on a symbological role that show the similarities between the grown man and the young child. It's very interesting how this movie is presented in an almost playlike fashion at some points. This movie shrouds it's deep insights with a cute story of a gangster looking after a little boy. I highly recommend this movie. "A different side of Beat Takeshi"People often pigeon hole Beat Takeshi as a violent and twisted auteur. Because of his films released in the United States, it is easy to understand why that is the case. The films that received US release like Violent Cop, Gonin (which he only starred in), and Sonatine are bloody, masochistic and some might argue misogynistic. The one dimension of Beat Takeshi that is often overshadowed by the violence is his humor. Sonatine, Hana-Bi and Boiling Point (not the Wesley Snipes movie) although gruesome, have many irreverent and light-hearted moments. Hopefully films like Kikujiro will change people's perception of this multi-faceted film maker. Kikujiro thankfully is a fun departure from the usual world of death, mutilation and rape. It, like Hana-Bi (still Beat Takeshi's best effort), is a road film. Kikujiro is a different take on the genre, it is about a small-time thug who is ordered by his wife to accomany the grandson of a friend to find his mother in a far off town. What I liked about this film was that Beat Takeshi toned down everything that he is known for, but kept the essence of a "Beat Takeshi film" in tact. The dead pan delivery, the quirky humor and tight story telling all remain in this successful attempt to broaden his audience. |
