Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
66
Bandslam
45
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
29
Collector, The
23
Couples Retreat
80
District 9
61
Extract
39
Fame
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
60
Funny People
32
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
27
Gamer
41
G-Force
39
Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, The
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Love Happens
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
51
My Sister's Keeper
42
Orphan
28
Pandorum
63
Perfect Getaway, A
86
Ponyo![]()
35
Post Grad
48
Proposal, The
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
24
Sorority Row
83
Star Trek![]()
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
55
Taking Woodstock
47
Time Traveler's Wife
96
Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3D![]()
35
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
28
Ugly Truth, The
88
Up![]()
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum![]()
56
Adam
72
Adela
39
Adventures of Power
78
Afghan Star
61
After the Storm
66
Afterschool
xx
All the Best
58
American Casino
72
Amreeka
48
Antichrist
73
Araya
62
Art & Copy
55
As Seen Through These Eyes
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The![]()
13
Beautiful Life, A
70
Beeswax
35
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71
Big Fan
66
Black Dynamite
51
Blind Date
xx
Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76
Bliss
35
Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57
Boys Are Back, The
45
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star![]()
70
Bronson
45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
55
Casi Divas
57
Chelsea on the Rocks
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
59
Collapse
44
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82
Cove, The![]()
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The![]()
67
Departures
xx
Dil Bole Hadippa
71
Disgrace
xx
Do Knot Disturb
70
Earth Days
24
Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85
Education, An![]()
55
Endgame
xx
Eulogy for a Vampire
xx
Everyone Else
xx
Fatal Promises
56
Fifty Dead Men Walking
62
Five Minutes of Heaven
74
Flame & Citron
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
28
Free Style
xx
From Mexico with Love
50
Fuel
25
Gentlemen Broncos
50
Give Me Your Hand
58
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo![]()
52
Grace
64
Harmony and Me
81
Headless Woman, The![]()
xx
Heretics, The
63
Horse Boy, The
73
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
74
Humpday
94
Hurt Locker, The![]()
29
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16
If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75
In Search of Beethoven
83
In the Loop![]()
61
Intimate Enemies
42
Irene in Time
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
19
Labor Day
xx
Laila's Birthday
41
Little Ashes
41
Little Traitor, The
66
Liverpool
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
83
Maid, The![]()
xx
Ministers, The
59
More Than a Game
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
xx
Mystery Team
48
New York, I Love You
73
Night and Day
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34
Other Man, The
xx
Painter Sam Francis, The
54
Paper Heart
xx
Paradise
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
44
Peter and Vandy
35
Play the Game
77
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx
Pretty Ugly People
65
Providence Effect, The
76
Rembrandt's J'accuse
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
40
Shrink
61
Skin
77
Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx
Skiptracers
46
Splinterheads
39
St. Trinian's
89
Still Walking![]()
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
55
Storm
65
Tetro
70
That Evening Sun
72
Thirst
xx
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61
Trucker
xx
Turning Green
83
U2 3D![]()
66
Unmade Beds
66
Unmistaken Child
70
Visual Acoustics
55
Walt & El Grupo
67
Way We Get By, The
69
We Live in Public
64
Wedding Song, The
64
Where is Where?
xx
White on Rice
74
Woman in Berlin, A
69
World's Greatest Dad
70
Yes Men Fix the World
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx
You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Kikujiro
EMAILPRINTSony Pictures Classics

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 25 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 10 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy
Written by: Takeshi Kitano
Directed by: Takeshi Kitano
Release Date:
Theatrical: May 26, 2000
DVD: December 12, 2000
Running Time: 121 minutes, Color
Origin: Japan
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for threatening incident
Starring Great Gidayu, Fumie Hosokawa, and Rakkyo Ide
It's summer and nine-year old Masao (Sekiguchi) has no one to play with. He decides to go in search of the mother he has never met. Kikujiro (Takeshi), a brash, loudmouthed and irresponsible adult, agrees to accompany him on his quest. Ultimately, the two of them end up at a destination that neither of them could have imagined. (Sony Pictures Classics)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Brother Dolls The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
A heart-tugger made totally irresistible because of the combination of Kitano's wry, sly sense of humor and his rigorous detachment.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan
It is off-putting at first, then refreshing, then downright touching. In short, it works.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
An experimental feature that keeps shooting off its ideas like an endless row of skyrockets, Kikujiro ultimately conveys this grief with such sustained intensity that it can only leave a scorched path of devastation in its aftermath.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
This genial, lyrical little movie seems guaranteed to broaden Kitano's fan base in the United States.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Andy Klein
In short, the film is emotional, perhaps even sentimental, but it strenuously avoids the sort of blatant manipulation that marks cheap sentimentality.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
Much of this movie is very funny, it has some genuinely endearing moments.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Desmond Ryan
No one has done the journey quite like Takeshi Kitano in Kikujiro
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday
Provides an arresting journey through the Japanese countryside and culture.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham
The comic drama is refreshingly anti- sentimental but will break your heart anyway.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
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.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
When Kikijuro goes soft, the film falls apart, with him becoming a slapstick clown, mugging shamelessly to entertain Masao and the audience.
Read Full Review >Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson
The film has a standard trajectory, but the details are unpredictable: Kitano fluctuates between goofy pratfalls. . . and elliptical pathos.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Examiner G.Allen Johnson
With a few quiet, moving scenes and a lovely ending, the film betrays an artist's touch, no matter how hard Kitano tries to make it look easy.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
It's tough to think of another child-adult pairing in a long screen tradition with so little emotional kick.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
Beautiful camerawork, some interesting scenes, but extraordinarily slow.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Kitano's first major comedy is loose and likable.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Not only is Kikujiro sweet and funny, it is, no doubt, Kitano's experimental "art film."
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
Appears to be a complete about-face for Kitano, and yet it's unmistakably his, both stylistically (the film is gorgeous to look at) and thematically.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ella Taylor
Ends up a flabby vehicle for the most banal of road-movie messages: The journey's the thing; the goal inevitably disappoints.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Dana Stevens
Dreamy touches can't compensate for the film's main flaw, which is that the relationship between the two main characters never really develops.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
Even allowing for differences in national styles, Kikujiro sprawls and stumbles. It's a road movie that turns into its own detour.
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
An overtly saccharine fairy tale of abandonment that is subverted by its own comic brutality. It's oddly affecting...which is to say, sad in a way that its maker might not have intended.
Read Full Review >Film.com Robert Horton
It does... apply Kitano's black-comic style to a different setting, and individual scenes sparkle with unexpected jokes, twists, and occasional cruelties.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
The film isn't just bad; it's a barely coherent, inert mess -- a heart-tugger for voidoids.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 10 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
James M. gave it a10:
Takeshi Kitano, one of the worlds greatest direcotrs, made this amazing film to almost no critical attention. How this is possible I have no idea. This was a magnificent, funny, moving, incredible film that is perfect for when you're feeling down.
James M gave it a10:
Takeshi Kitano, one of the worlds greatest direcotrs, made this amazing film to almost no critical attention. How this is possible I have no idea. This was a magnificent, funny, moving, incredible film that is perfect for when you're feeling down. 10/10
Yoon Min C. gave it a 7:
Beat Takeshi is both a wildman iconoclast and a disciplined, even stern, stylist. His gangster/crime films are often considered groundbreaking classics. Here, Takeshi goes for sweet comedy and the timing is off most of the time, and the gags aren't much to begin with. But, the central story of a boorish man finding a measure of humanity by caring for an abandoned child in search of his mother is both convincing and ulimately moving. It fails as comedy but works as drama about innocence lost and compassion discovered.
J. Negley gave it a 10:
A a breath of fresh air from Hollywood's smog. Clever and witty, funny and heart warming. With a fantastic soundtrack behind it, Kikujiro is an excellent movie to watch when you need to feel good.
Amanda gave it a 5:
There are quite a few chuckle-worthy parts, but the movie was slow and lost my interest in the middle.
