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.
Whimsical adventures and silly games are punctuated by violent beatings: despite its moments of sweetness and offbeat humor, this is no family film. In one scene the downcast orphan struggles with a child molester who is trying to yank down his underwear before Takeshi rescues him. It's an uncomfortable scene that is inexplicably played for uneasy humor, the most extreme example of the film's ambiguous tone. Kitano never gets the film under control and the sweetness gets cloying at times, but he invests it with hilarious moments of bizarre, deadpan humor. Though hardly his best, this is without a doubt his strangest film to date, and that's saying something. --Sean Axmaker
Loony Biker on a Beach The musical score to this film is addictive. Its lovely sense of melody uplifts our emotions. Takeshi Kitano was nominated for the Golden Palm Award for this film @ Cannes & won Best Actor at Spain's Valladolid International Film Festival.
Kayoko Kishimoto was abrasive as Kikujiro's wife, which made you understand why he volunteered to take off with Masao played by Yusuke Sekiguchi. Overall, this film did not work for me. Other than the fact that there wasn't a story or much of a climax, the real source of enmity I have for the film is the scene which implies child abuse in the restroom. To have the old geezer grabbing at a young child's underpants followed by Kitano in the restroom with his pants to his knees was outlandish. Was that humor? Hurting a child is not a funny thing. Kikujiro's neglect of the boy made me wonder what kind of mother would allow her son to be with such a man for days on end without even a phone call home. I believe Kitano was trying for a bonding film between a man and child. Instead, we get a loony biker dancing on the beach without clothes on in front of his all-male companions including the child. This is supposed to entertain. It distrubed me, much the way Nicole Kidman's performance did in Birth. This is an offensive film because it apparently condones the mistreatment and neglect of children. Taxi!
Alltimes Best 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 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? 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. 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
Anything Goes Trivia
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Trevor
