Kikujiro
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Product details
Actor: Fumie Hosokawa, Great Gidayu, Makoto Inamiya, Rakkyo Ide, Yuuko DaikeEdition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Subtitled); Japanese (Original Language), Analog
Format: Color, NTSC, Subtitled
Running Time: 121 minutes
Release Date: 2001-06-19
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Studio: Sony Pictures
VHS Movie Reviews of Kikujiro
Movie Review: Life journey with unexpected companions
Summary: 5 Stars
I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed watching Kikujiro, as it didn't contain the violence typically expected in Takeshi Kitano's movies. This story is about a middle-aged idle Kikujiro who unexpectedly travels with a young boy Masao. The journey's primary "purpose" was to find Masao's mother, but the focus of the movie is on the journey itself. Kikujiro, who was hopelessly immature and inconsiderate at the beginning of the story, gradually embraces Masao's hurts and sadness.
The movie made me think of our need for people - that we need a community to cry with and laugh with. Kikujiro and Masao found community where one would not expect- in each other, as well as on the road with passers-by. Perhaps Kikujiro didn't really have a place in his hometown, even with his wife. The movie contains some crude sense of humor, which can be disturbing at times, but is not surprising knowing Beat Takeshi's sense of humor. If one has seen much of Beat Takeshi on TV, especially in the 1980s, the way the characters try to cheer up Masao may even bring a sense of nostalgia, albeit a little distasteful.
Even though the trip may not have accomplished its initial purpose, the movie leaves us with a sense of hope. And that is probably the point; our pains in life will continue, yet, we also have future hope. The little angelic wind chime (which, by the way, is very characteristic of Japanese summers) that Kikujiro "conveniently" gave to Masao, symbolizes such hope. Perhaps Kikujiro was an angel personified for Masao, despite Kikujiro's appearance and mannerism. In return, Masao was also an angel for Kikujiro as he helped Kikujiro connect more with the people and world around him. The beautiful scenery and music throughout the movie does well to bring out the tender side in us all.
Movie Review: Loony Biker on a Beach
Summary: 1 Stars
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!
Movie Review: Alltimes Best
Summary: 5 Stars
Wonderful story, great morale, and totally hillarious. Great for a family present. I had to get a soundtrack, so much I loved the music. Movie Review: Worth 116 Minutes of Your Life
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Movie Review: How could you not like this movie?
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Summary of Kikujiro
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
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