Kikujiro

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amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write("<a href=javascript:popUp('http://buybox.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=reelmoviecriticc&link_code=xsc&creative=23424&camp=2025&path=/dt/assoc/tg/aa/xml/assoc/-/B00004Z1FE/reelmoviecriticc/ref=ac_bb1_,_amazon')><img src=http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/associates/remote-buy-box/buy1.gif border=0 alt='Buy from Amazon.com' ></a>"); document.close(); </script> <noscript> <form method="POST" action="http://buybox.amazon.com/o/dt/assoc/handle-buy-box=B00004Z1FE"> <input type="hidden" name="asin.B00004Z1FE" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="tag-value" value="reelmoviecriticc"> <input type="hidden" name="tag_value" value="reelmoviecriticc"> <input type="image" name="submit.add-to-cart" value="Buy from Amazon.com" border="0" alt="Buy from Amazon.com" src="http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/associates/add-to-cart.gif"> </form> </noscript>  </B></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="575"><div> <B>Kikujiro</B> * (PG-13)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><div> Reviewed By George O. Singleton</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="549" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="545"><div> A children's film for no one at all</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="580" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Kikujiro: Beat Takeshi</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Masao: Yusuke Sekiguchi</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Director: Takeshi Kitano</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="304" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> Masao (Yusuke Sekiguchi), a nine-year-old boy who lives with his grandmother, wants to see his biological mother who lives in a city a few hundred miles away from his small Japanese town. He has no memory of ever seeing her or his father, who was killed in an accident. </div> <bR> <div> Masao is out for summer recess and is a well-mannered boy who stays out of trouble while his grandmother is away at work during the day. When a package is delivered to the house, he looks for the stamp to sign for it but instead he finds a photo of his parents, and a picture of his mother holding him when he was an infant. He signs for the package and he also finds the address of his mother, who lives in the city of Toyohashi. </div> <bR> <div> Kikujiro (Beat Takeshi) is a local scoundrel of sorts, who likes to gamble and otherwise con people. He is planning a trip to a beach town and his wife arranges for him to escort Masao to see his mother.  </div> <bR> <div> He reluctantly agrees and traveling with the young boy is like oil and water, at least at first. The first place they stop is a racetrack. The boy gives him a number, which is a winner, and they become new best friends, until he gives him a string of losers. They finally hit a big one, which allows them the means to stay in a nice hotel along the way.</div> <bR> <div> It is here, when we think we are starting to see the formation of a story, that things get arty and somewhat farcical. The problem is that it does not come together. Kikujiro is a rude person who irritates and uses people at every opportunity. Along the way we learn he cannot drive a car as he strips the gears and drives with the emergency brake on; he tries to swim at the hotel and almost drowns even with a life preserver on. Never mind that during the height of the summer season, that no one else is at the pool on a beautiful day. They run up an account at the hotel and by the time they check out, they have no money left so they begin to hitch hike to Toyohashi. </div> <bR> <div> Kikujiro is always trying to con someone into helping him and the boy, and his bravado is often replaced with cowardly acts. Eventually they make it to Toyohashi and Masao does see his mother. However, the meeting is not as he expected.  </div> <bR> <div> Kikujiro attempts self-improvement and tries to do things to entertain Masao by camping out and playing games, even going to a carnival. It's during these episodes that the film goes off on a tangent that I totally do not understand. I was not the only one, as a few people left before the film was over and a couple outside of the theater looked at each other and said, "I don't know what that was about." Masao does survive his trip and seems to be the better for it. </div> <bR> <div> Kikujiro is a person that you think you may learn to like and perhaps he may not always be the bad guy, but he'll never become a truly good one. Masao almost seems lost in the story and it's about him. While it's fine for certain events to not have closure, which is very true of life, it's helpful if you understand the people and events enough to imagine various scenarios of how things might have played out in the future. </div> <bR> <div> The director, Takeshi Kitano, who is also the lead actor, Beat Takeshi, seems to be on a personal head-trip with this film. Other characters become involved with Masao and Kikujiro and they are never called by a name. They were always addressed with words like "Fatso" and "Baldy." Takeshi is always referred to as "Mister" and Masao as "Kid." The reason for this remains unclear. Segues between major events in the film have a cartoon-like transition, with titles like "It didn't work out";  "Mister played with me"; "Mister fell down the stairs"; and "goodbye". </div> <bR> <div> The sequence of events made sense for the title but the dots of the various sequences never connected. While intended to be comical, at best there were some chuckles, but the nature of why the road trip was being taken was anything but funny. Nine-year-old Masao is molested in a park because of inattention by Kikujiro. <B>What appears to be a film for a child is anything but that.</B> The only redeeming value of this film is that if a child saw it they would know not to go off with strangers in an unfamiliar town; but they already know that, so what's the point?</div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="591" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> PG-13 (attempted child molestation)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> George O. Singleton © 2000</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> <A HREF="mailto:info@reelmoviecritic.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:info@reelmoviecritic.com"><U><U>George@reelmoviecritic.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>