Kikujirô no Natsu (1999)
Genre: Comedy / Road movie
Duration: 121 minuten
Alternative titles: Kikujiro / 菊次郎の夏
Country:
Japan
Directed by: Takeshi Kitano
Stars: Kayoko Kishimoto, Takeshi Kitano and Yusuke Sekiguchi
IMDb score:
7,7 (23.515)
Releasedate: 5 June 1999
Kikujirô no Natsu plot
Little Masao is nine years old and has just had summer vacation. He lives alone with his grandmother who has no money or time for vacation, his friends are all gone because they have parents who do go on vacation and football training has already stopped. He decides, with no more than a photo, to look for his mother. A mother he never met. A worldly friend of his grandmother takes care of Masao's fate. She orders her husband Kikujiro to accompany Masao on his quest. The boy is on a grand adventure, the vacation of his life.
Actors and actresses
Kikujiro
Masao
Kikujiro's Wife
Masao's Mother
Masao's Grandmother
Man at Bus Stop
Biker Fatso
Biker Baldy
An-chan
Juggler Girl
Reviews & comments
mrklm
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- 11629 messages
- 10041 votes
Comic drama in which the directing, acting, music and editing are perfect. 9-year-old Masao [Yusuke Sekiguchi] lives with his hard-working grandmother who hardly has time for him. That's why a family friend [Beat Takeshi] is ordered by his wife [Kayoko Kishimoto] to take Masao to the beach for a day. However, 'Mister' turns out to be a foul-mouthed bully who, with his rudeness, puts people against him time and again. Still, he decides not to take Masao to the beach, but to his mother.
Of course, the two grow together through a series of encounters and events, but although sentiment is often lurking, Takeshi Kitano always manages to break that sentiment at the right time with a successful joke. The film is full of funny and/or heartwarming moments that Kitano manages to convey time and again in an inventive, but effective way. The dream sequences are beautifully designed and beautifully filmed and the people Masao and 'Mister' meet along the way all have their impact. There are too many highlights to list, but the pool scene left me laughing for a long time. The games Masao plays with 'Fatso' 'Mr Nice Guy' and 'Baldy' are also fantastic, but so is this film that is the perfect combination of a laugh and a tear and that leaves you with a wonderfully warm feeling. A masterpiece!
Translated from Dutch · View original
Filmkriebel
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- 10012 messages
- 4678 votes
Picked up on Arte yesterday and I don't regret it. A heartwarming tragicomic film about Masao, a little boy whose father has passed away and whose mother has gone elsewhere to work. Summer leave begins: while his comrades leave on vacation with their parents, Masao stays behind with his grandmother, ready to be bored for two months. Fortunately, a neighbor of Grandma sends her antisocial husband Kikujiro (presumably an ex-yakuza) onto the track with Masao to take him to his mother. What follows is a quiet road movie in which both fall from one funny situation into the other. I did laugh with some of Kikujiro's mischievous pranks. That guy's behavior was sometimes not normal. There's a hint of melancholy about the orphaned boy, but Kitano doesn't make it too hard. With those completely childish games (that alien 
) it could have been a little shorter, although I thought it fitted in well with the film. A very enjoyable film that relies on the atypical characters, the creative direction and the humor.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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