Anthony Gonzalez Takeshi Kitano: Kid's Return Director/Writer - Takeshi KitanoCast Character Ken Kaneko ... Masaru Masanobu Ando ... Shinji Leo Morimoto ... Teacher Hatsuo Yamaya ... Boxing Club Manager Michisuke Kashiwaya ... HiroshiKid's Return begins with two high-school students performing a manzai comedy act. It is the central hobby of both characters Masaru and Shinji. Shinji delivers goods to a house and meets up with his friend, Masaru, who is looking for a job. He tells Masaru he is not still taking boxing lessons. They are both aimless and want to enjoy their youth without any responsibilities. Instead they want to live their youth through each other. Masaru offers him a ride through the city. Instead of going to history class they ride their bike in the quad. On the roof they make a man out of materials with a paper drawing of the teacher's face and a flashlight as a penis and two ping pong balls as the testicles. They hang it outside and the window and wiggle the ropes controlling the fake flashlight penis making everyone snicker inside the classroom. The teacher sees it and catches the constructed man.At the café they talk of trying to be stand up comedians. When they return to school Masaru shakedowns two scared students for their money telling one to empty his socks. He seems to have gone through this before to hide it there. Shinji watches but doesn't participate. The two are unlikely friends and Masaru is the cocky extrovert and Shinji is the loyal introvert. At the café a shy student, Reiki, leaves a love letter for the waitress and as Shinji and Masaru leave Masaru takes the letter. They read the letter while biking and laugh at Reiki's love confession to Sachiko.As they get in trouble for throwing a dart to a kid's head in class the office workers and principal tell them they don't need to be good students and they don't even need to come to class. They just ask them to leave other students alone. One teacher comes in to park his car and tells them they should have been expelled a long time ago. Later he finds his car torched in a pan shot starting from the students watching on the staircase to the sad teacher's sad defeat by his car. When kids don't have money that they can take from them Masaru punches one and tells him to get a job.At the office again Shinji and Masaru are accused of setting the teacher's car on fire. They decide as the two are too stupid to fall in with the Yakuza they should become comedians. Surprisingly they take his advice and practice comedy routines. The two go to an adult video store and are told to leave. They return with painted mustaches, different accents and changed shirts with makeshift ties trying their luck again. Tired of listening to their routines the store clerk gives them two movie tickets to make them go away.Masaru tries to shakedown two students again and their hired guard punches him knocking him to the ground. Without Masaru the next day at school it is Shinji who is bullied. They go to a boxing ring to join and practice. At the adult video store other students dress in pathetic disguises with drawn ties, glasses and cheap suits to pretend to be older executives. The woman sells them the tickets and when they are gone complains how stupid they are. When they return to the restaurant Masaru sees the Yakuza boss and tells him thanks for the food from the other day. The boss tries to buy them cigarettes and alcohol but they tell him they can't have it since they must be healthy to box. Masaru decides his boxing name will be "Dynamite Punch." He tells the boxing president he wants a true fight and one kid offers to take him on only because they hate each other. Masaru fights dirty and beats the kid. He wants Shinji as a boxing partner. When they fight Shinji shows to be a better boxer consistently beating Masaru.Shinji and Masaru become estranged as Shinji excels at boxing and Masaru quits school and joins the Yakuza. At the café Sachiko listens to the persistent Reiki who flirts with her and tells about his financial job he will have soon. Shinji at the café sees Masaru walk in with the Yakuza and sees that he is now a guard. Shinji watches the boxing match of one his fellow boxers from the club. Shinji wins his first fight and becomes one of the best boxers in the gym beating everyone. Another boxer leaves the gym and tells Shinji when he becomes a boss and Shinji becomes a champion boxer they will meet again. One of the coaches tries to convince Shinji to cheat at boxing. He tells him he can put metal in his pants and later remove them when weighed to convince the club president he has lost weight so he can still drink beer.Reiki finds he cannot handle the business world as it is too cutthroat for him. He decides to be a taxi driver instead barely making enough money survive. The club president tells Shinji his friend Hayashi isn't respectable and he shouldn't drink as it affects his performance. Hayashi gives Shinji some pills to lose weight. Shinji's performance suffers and his coach yells at him for softening up after a poor jog. Shinji doesn't do well in the fight so his coaches throw in the towel to forfeit the fight and Shinji loses. Shinji and Masaru reunite and Masaru tells him nothing has changed. Shinji asks if their fate is sealed and Masaru tells him it hasn't begun.

Doha Film The film "Kids Return" follows two delinquent teenage high school dropouts, who enjoy harassing schoolmates and teachers. Their nonchalant lifestyle leads them to two different paths, seemingly successful.Masaru (Ken Kaneko) and the gentler associate Shinji (Masanobu Ando) are accompanied by a recurrent musical score every time they're engaged in an activity, hinting that life can be beautiful and hopeful with possibilities. They're absorbed in their fantastical world enjoying a series of adventures— fun for them, however damaging to their peers. They're typical bullies who burn their professor's car for the slightest reason and horrify their classmates in order to take their money, which they spend in their usual hangout. These repulsing actions predict a dark future as per the school staff but yet are somehow envied by other teenagers.Some of their victims decide to revenge and hire a boxer to teach the pair a lesson; Masaru ironically gets knocked down aggressively. As failure is not an option, he decides to train and get even while dragging his shy friend along the way.In the gym the trainers notice Shinji's natural talent in boxing, contrary to what everybody expected due to his more stoic nature. But after a failure in an impulsive challenge, Masaru decides to quit for a more dangerous endeavor encouraging his friend to stay and pursue a chance that will change his life.While Shinji focuses on his training to become a ring champ, his best friend joins a local Yakuza gang (Japanese gangsters) in the hope he'll become a leader one day; their paths diverge to an uncertain course.The kids are not totally responsible of their choices, but rather drawn into a series of decisions that are led by pure coincidence. Meeting the Yakuza boss in a restaurant left them with a shallow interpretation of the 'cool' rich man, strong and respected by his surroundings. Truth is, once Masaru gets involved with them, there's no turning back.While Shinji has been devoting all his time in the gym with the admiration of his boxing mates, jealousy of the older generation threatens his success. One of the old champs convinces him to enjoy life outside the training ring with an unhealthy lifestyle, and Shinji's natural inclination to follow changes the course of a promising career.Kitano shows a deep understanding of a troubled youth, introducing humorous angles in their portrayal. At the same time, he raises realistic questions on the consequences of roaming without a purpose, without guidance. Being nihilistic in his approach doesn't deny his affection to these young men with great potential for success while bridging to the inevitable adulthood – leaving the audience thoughtful.Find all of our film and festival coverage, as well as our events and education at www.DohaFilmInstitute.com. Follow us on Twitter @DohaFilm.

DICK STEEL Today is the Director-In-Focus day, with 3 movies by writer-director-producer-comedian- etc Kitano Takeshi. And the three movies are all quite different in nature, with this one being one of Kitano's directorial efforts without being in front of the camera, Hana-bi being the violent movies he's come to be famous for, and Kikujiro at the other end, being non-violent but full of heartwarming fun.Kids Return is a semi-autobiographical movie, and you can see shades of Kitano, reel or real, in some of the characters. Primarily, it focuses on the lives of two slacker best of friends, Masaru (Ken Kaneko) and Shinji (Masanobu Ando), who play truant frequently, and are ever threatened with expulsion from school. They have no aim in life, and are drifting and wasting their time and youth away, acting up as the ruffians and bullies in school.Two events change their lives though. One is a run in with a boxer, who inspires them to pick up boxing so that they could get a rematch of sorts. The other is the Yakuza, represented by a group who frequents the same diner they go to. From then on, the movie picks up, as we follow the very different paths these two buddies take. I kinda like the way the movie presented this aspect of life - that even amongst the best of buddies, there will come a point in time where your ideals and aspirations take you down different paths. But although your lifestyle might have changed, at the end of the day, when you get together, you're still the best of friends. This is very true, that you never really left each other, and the door is forever open for you to catch up from where you left off. Different paths, different lives, parallel outcomes.The movie's very easy to follow with its straight forward narrative, as we follow the timid Shinji in his path towards glory in the boxing ring, and observe from the side the decisions that the brash Masaru make which allows him to rise amongst the gangster ranks. More screen time is devoted to Shinji's though, as at certain points, it looked as if it was the Japanese version of Rocky Balboa. Punctuating the movie isn't The Eye of the Tiger, but Kids Return has a catchy enough soundtrack courtesy of Joe Hisaishi, who frequently scores Takeshi's movies.The movie however, doesn't just bore you with these two friends, as there are enough side characters from the same school, like the disillusioned teachers, and fellow students turned comedians, and one, a sales failure turned taxi driver, to add some layers to the story. But ultimately, it's life as it goes full circle, and it makes you wonder whether good guidance is always that important factor to break the negative lifestyle anyone is living in.Oh, and did I mention this movie had one of the more memorable movie props - a puppet with a makeshift dick made out of a flashlight and two bulbs taped together. You gotta see it to believe!

pefo1921 Along with Fireworks, one of Takeshi Kitano's finest movies. This movie is a story of two high school? slackers who appear to be looking for a purpose in life. One becomes a good boxer and the other one becomes a yakuza member. After going thru their experience, they become more confident and content with their life even though it couldn't be said that they were exactly successful. Like real life, perhaps the experience is the thing. Good acting all around. It's always good to see Susumu Terajima in Takeshi's movies as he's a very good actor. Also very good score by Joe Hisaishi. The movie also appears to criticize the fact that many Japanese people treat everything- life, work, etc. so seriously that they don't take the time to enjoy life. Instead, they "pressure" themselves to do good, even though their heart may not be in it. It's not unlike many recent Japanese films like Shall We Dance or Bouncing KOgals, both also good movies. Overall, a 9 out of 10.