Not Kitano's best but still displays a deadpan visual cleverness that's uniquely his own. For every moment that works in Kikujiro, there's at least one that doesn't, and they often happen at the same time. Kikujiro, known only as "Mister" to the little boy, is played by Kitano as a man who is willing to seem a clown, but keeps his thoughts to himself.
Original Score: 5/5 Binge Central May 11, 2001 March 22, 2002 Filtered through Kitano's distant and deadpan touch, the material works, and it works well. This will be the first time that the highly-rated film, which boasts 8.8 points out of 10 on the Chinese review platform Douban, hits the big screen on the Chinese mainland, according to a Monday announcement via the film’s Weibo account. Original Score: 2/5

April 5, 2003

December 8, 2002 Other scenes are funnier, including a road relationship with a couple of Hells Angels named "Baldy" and "If the movie finally doesn't work as well as it should, it may be because the material isn't a good fit for Kitano's hard-edged underlying style.



December 8, 2002 Kikujiro (in the film) is a corrupted person.

... the slapstick and sentiment make for a queasy mixture. The summer days stretch long, and the streets are empty. But also in the film, Masao eventually respects and loves to play with that childish man who keeps smoking and shouting at people. December 6, 2005 Original Score: 2/5

It's so unusually sad, yet so ridiculously happy. It's a gorgeous take on alienation and guardianship.


He is lonely, and finds the address of his mother, who works far away. The critically-acclaimed 1999 Japanese comedy film “Kikujiro” is set to make its Chinese mainland debut later this summer though the release date is yet to be announced. (His efforts produce one puncture, which results in a great sight gag.) You can't smile when you keep feeling sorry for the kid--who is not, after all, in on the joke.Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013.