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Kikujiro

1999, Movie, PG-13, 116 mins

Kikujiro: Review

KIKUJIRO | KIKUJIRO NO NATSU | L'ETE DE KIKUJIRO
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"Quit playing gangster!" squawks the wife of the hen-pecked title character, a former Yakuza played by the film's writer, director and editor, Takeshi Kitano. And, for the most part, he has: Kitano, the maverick Japanese director behind such innovative, ultraviolent gangster fare as HANA-BI (FIREWORKS) and SONATINE, puts down the guns and delivers a mawkish version of CENTRAL STATION with none of that film's gentle grace. Lonely Tokyo schoolboy Masao (Yusuke Sekiguchi) decides, once school lets out for the summer, to seek out the mother who left him to be raised by his grandmother. On his way out of town, Masao runs into Kikujiro and his wife (Kayoko Kishimoto). The wife insists Kikujiro accompany the little boy on his journey; Kikujiro, after learning the kid is carrying 50,000 yen, agrees. First stop: The racetrack, where Kikujiro loses Masao's money, leaving the sullen boy and his crude, dyspeptic traveling companion with nothing but their wits to travel on. Nearly 90 minutes and a few too many comic misadventures later, the unlikely pair wind up at the seaside and the apparent end of this rambling road movie. But Kitano has a few more tricks up his sleeve, and treats us all to a surreal 20-minute coda of games, gags, pranks and pratfalls. The movie appears to be a complete about-face for Kitano, and yet it's unmistakably his, both stylistically (the film is gorgeous to look at) and thematically: Kitano's work is full of sentimental journeys that often lead to the seaside. Surprisingly, Kitano's violent streak is also in evidence. In one particularly disturbing scene, Masao is nearly raped by a child molester; in another, Kikujiro is practically beaten to death at a carnival, making this bizarre heart-warmer totally unsuitable for the only audience likely to stomach the rest of it. leave a comment --Ken Fox
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