KIKUJIRO

It’s the summer holidays, and Masao is bored: all his friends have left Tokyo, and he spends his time alone while his grandmother works. One day, he meets Kikujiro, a loudmouthed old yakuza, and the unlikely duo embark on a road trip to find Masao’s long lost mother, whom he has never met before. Multi-talented filmmaker Takeshi ‘Beat’ Kitano took a break from the violent gangster films which made his name outside Japan to deliver this story of the friendship between a small boy and a broken man.

In an interview with Sight & Sound, Kitano explained that he wanted to make a road movie, something like THE WIZARD OF OZ. It's an apt comparison; both THE WIZARD OF OZ and KIKUJIRO privilege the trace of memories over their concrete logic. KIKUJIRO is a heart-tugger made totally irresistible because of the combination of Kitano’s wry, sly sense of humor and his rigorous detachment. It is a beautiful, warm and inviting film with a distinctive structure and a totally captivating score by Joe Hisaishi.

"It’s full of strange flights of fancy that come out of nowhere and go nowhere. And along with the laughs, it creates a sense of loss so strong and grievous that this feeling may stick with you for days. Yes, it’s sentimental, but it’s also highly atypical and downright weird. And it’s been haunting me ever since I first saw it." - Jonathan Rosenbaum