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Kikujiro (1999)

tomatometer

50

Average Rating: 5/10
Critic Reviews: 12
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 6

No consensus yet.

audience

91

liked it
Average Rating: 4.2/5
User Ratings: 8,804

My Rating

Movie Info

After the success of Hana-Bi (1997), Takeshi Kitano, or 'Beat' Takeshi, as he is often called, made another film in which once again he is the director, screenwriter, editor, the leading player and the talent behind the art work. Unlike many of his films about the violent lives of the yakuza, Kikujiro is a bittersweet road movie about two characters who have very little in common. Masao (Yusuke Sekiguchi) is a sensitive nine-year-old boy who has to spend his summer vacation alone with his

Dec 12, 2000

Sony Pictures Classics

Cast

All Critics (57) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (29) | Rotten (20) | DVD (7)

... the slapstick and sentiment make for a queasy mixture.

March 22, 2002 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | Comment
Globe and Mail
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... a great deal of fun.

May 11, 2001 Comment
Hollywood Reporter
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... its treacly mix of emotional manipulation and klutzy comedy will make it hard to digest for most audiences.

February 14, 2001 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
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The result is a heart-tugger made totally irresistible because of the combination of Kitano's wry, sly sense of humor and his rigorous detachment.

February 14, 2001 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | Comment
Los Angeles Times
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You can't smile when you keep feeling sorry for the kid--who is not, after all, in on the joke.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comments (2)
Chicago Sun-Times
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Kikujiro is more on the nose, and that's probably why it doesn't entirely work.

January 1, 2000 Comment
Film.com
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Leads with Kitano's exquisite timing and ability to mine both laughs and heartache in a single instant. It's a gorgeous take on alienation and guardianship.

December 7, 2009 Full Review Source: BrianOrndorf.com | Comment
BrianOrndorf.com

Filtered through Kitano's distant and deadpan touch, the material works, and it works well.

November 21, 2003 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | Comment
Combustible Celluloid

Not Kitano's best but still displays a deadpan visual cleverness that's uniquely his own.

April 5, 2003 Comment
KPBS.org

Kikujiro, like the childhood games that its characters play, offers a temporary distraction from the disappointments of reality.

March 5, 2002 Full Review Source: MovieMartyr.com | Comment
MovieMartyr.com

It doesn't seem like the type of film Kitano should be making...

August 2, 2001 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Kikujiro

definitely the sweetest of kitano's films and a chance for him to show his comedic talents. it's not quite like most american films with similar themes. kitano plays off his gangster image as a loud mouth lowlife who still manages to intimidate people. the kid is a bit of a blank slate with deadpan expression

November 7, 2007
rubystevens
Stella Dallas

Super Reviewer

Bad tempered small-time criminal Takeshi Kitano is "volunteered" to take a young boy to meet the mother he has never known, and after blowing all their money at the track they resort to hitch-hiking meeting the inevitable mix of oddballs along the way. Anyone familiar with the films of Beat Takeshi will know of his

June 11, 2007
garyX
xGary Xx

Super Reviewer

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Foreign Titles

  • Kikujiros Sommer (DE)
  • Kikujiro (Kikujirô No Natsu) (UK)
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