WILLIAM FLANIGAN Viewed on DVD. Cinematography/lighting = five (5) stars; score = five (5) stars. Director Takeshi Kitano's one-man show (he is also the star, script writer, editor, and who knows what else!) is both entertaining and dull with, unfortunately, more of the latter than the former. Kitano's slapstick/ sentimental tale involves two children: one is on summer vacation from grade school; the other is middle age on permanent vacation from being an adult. The Director often strives for humor based on silliness which mostly falls flat. Many scenes are too long due to Kitano's leisurely-paced direction and his fondness for keeping the camera running long after the action has left the frame (as well as sometimes starting the camera before the action moves into the frame). Child actor Yusuke Sekiguchi's mugging is overly done starting with the film's long opening shot. Dream/nightmare sequences meant to punch things up come across, uncomfortably, as simply silly dancing inserts. Inter-scene continuity is problematic, as Kitano the actor produces props and clothing changes out of thin air! Perhaps the most entertaining and amusing scenes involve a series of schemes on a back country road to flag down passing vehicles and snag a free ride (the Director is channeling the classic IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)) with the best hitchhiking technique being a purely Japanese one: just ask very politely for a ride! Cinematography/lighting are fine. Street scenes in a residential section of Tokyo not fire bombed during WWII are arguable the best of the exterior shots. Subtitles are okay. Score's major theme is imaginative, but its variations lack creativity and are overly redundant. Enjoyable, but don't expect too much. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

[email protected] A touching Japanese homage to 'The Wizard of Oz' (in the words of Director Takeshi Kitano), this is a comedic, and sometimes disturbing tale of growing up and growing down. Kikujiro (Takeshi Kitano) is an immature, selfish, sullen man who takes and rarely gives. Masao (Yusuke Sekiguchi) is a young boy of maybe nine or ten, who has been left to live with his grandmother, and has to take things like an adult. When Masao decides to go visit his mother, his Grandmother's neighbour volunteers her boyfriend Kikujiro as escort. This is the tale of their journey, both spiritual and physical. Step out of your comfort zone and enjoy the ride! Joyous!

RainDogJr Takeshi Kitano is a very well known name for me and I'm a big fan of his work however thinking in the subject I have seen only 3 films, 2 of them directed by him (Kids Return and Brother) and the other just with him as actor (Battle Royale). Then I have the world of Kitano still to discover and certainly I really liked those 3 films and now "Kikujiro" was not the exception. It is one of the most unique yakuza films I have seen if you can consider it a yakuza film just because the character Kikujiro (Kitano) was a yakuza. He is a great and strange character, he can be a total a****** and a good friend and thanks to Masao (Yusuke Sekiguchi) we are going to watch both sides of Kikujiro. Masao is the protagonist of the film, a young boy who lives only with his grandmother, they used to be neighbours of Kikujiro and his wife. Summer arrives so school and other activities are over then Masao will be alone. His best friend is going out, everybody from his soccer practices is also on vacations and his grandmother works. But then Masao thinks again in his mother, who according to his grandmother is working far for him, and now he has an address. For Masao's fortune Kikujiro and his wife found him when some teenagers were robbing him just when he was going to see his mother. The wife of Kikujiro gave them money, she felt sorry for the young boy and now her husband is taking the young boy to see his mother. Here begins the unique journey."Kikujiro" is a very strange, touching, sad and funny film, certainly is hard to know what's next in the journey of Masao and Kikujiro and I just loved that. Just the journey started you watch them at the cycle track. Kikujiro is betting and at once Masao said to him the winner combination so they returned just to lose money, Masao never said another winner combination. If that wasn't enough to complicate the journey, Kikujiro's criminal actions will help to make things a little more complicated. A fine scene to can define Kikujiro is when they are inside a taxi, the taxi driver stops to pee or something but he doesn't stop the taximeter action that makes Kikujiro angry enough to steal the taxi, not a single minute after the taxi driver went outside, just to be without a car by the next morning. Things are more difficult for both Masao and Kikujiro after they are at a very expensive hotel, after that they are without any money trying to find someone who drives them to their destination, now Masao is seeing how strange is Kikujiro but also becoming a friend. This unique journey have many moments I loved, one of them reminds me the Charles Chaplin short film "The Immigrant" (at a bus stop Kikujiro steals food from a man, both Kikujiro and Masao are very hungry but Kikujiro gives -apparently- all the food to the young boy and says so him something like "don't worry, adults must make sacrifices for the little ones". Then Kikujiro goes to the back of the bust stop to pee but he went there just to eat his part of the food!), some of them are extremely funny (Kikujiro trying to imitate a trick with oranges that a woman made, for example), some of them are difficult moments, moving moments, sad moments and magical moments. Happened what we could expect was going to happen with the mother of Masao (at one point we see how Masao and Kikujiro shared a similar situation, both were very close t their mothers but at the same time both were very far from them) but Kikujiro brings the magical moments, both are now there to really help the other and at one point Kikujiro will join other adults, that they and we meet before, and they will become kids and together with Masao they will share fun moments. Finally, I loved this Kitano film, for me is a near masterpiece that can surprise you. Maybe your girlfriend doesn't liked the film Brother or the film Battle Royale but believe me, she will love this one.

Polaris_DiB If it wasn't for the perverted old man and the language, this would probably be a really good children's movie. Who knows, maybe it's intended to be...Anyway, little Masao lives with his grandmother and has never met his parents: his father is dead and his mother ran away. He knows where his mother lives, however, and wants to go visit her over the Summer, so his kindly neighbor conscripts her profligate husband to take him. "Mister", as Masao calls him, doesn't make the ideal companion with his absurd behavior and his verbal abuse, but they go off to adventure anyways and learn to really connect with each other.The power this film has lies mostly in its contemplative approach. It's very humorous and isn't really slow, but the camera does take the time to linger on locales, faces, and characters. For a few odd parts here and there, it's still really innocent and it seems to show that most people are kind-natured at heart, even when they project an aura of toughness and abusiveness. An interesting aside to analyze that theme would be the carnival scene, where people entrusted with family entertainment turn out to be violent cheaters, whereas even the heavy-metal biker folk are more than willing to go out of their way to help Masao.The film itself is from Masao's perspective, as a childhood's slightly photographic memory comes into play, mixed a lot with colorful imagination. The humor is the best part, as it is at times really simple but holds itself up well. There's a lot to enjoy in this film.--PolarisDiB