| 90 |
Los Angeles Times
A heart-tugger made totally irresistible because of the combination of Kitano's wry, sly sense of humor and his rigorous detachment.
|
| 83 |
Portland Oregonian
It is off-putting at first, then refreshing, then downright touching. In short, it works.
|
| 80 |
Chicago Reader
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.
|
| 75 |
Miami Herald
This genial, lyrical little movie seems guaranteed to broaden Kitano's fan base in the United States.
|
| 70 |
Dallas Observer
In short, the film is emotional, perhaps even sentimental, but it strenuously avoids the sort of blatant manipulation that marks cheap sentimentality.
|
| 67 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Much of this movie is very funny, it has some genuinely endearing moments.
|
| 63 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
No one has done the journey quite like Takeshi Kitano in Kikujiro
|
| 63 |
Baltimore Sun
Provides an arresting journey through the Japanese countryside and culture.
|
| 63 |
San Francisco Chronicle
The comic drama is refreshingly anti- sentimental but will break your heart anyway.
|
| 63 |
Chicago Sun-Times
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.
|
| 63 |
New York Daily News
When Kikijuro goes soft, the film falls apart, with him becoming a slapstick clown, mugging shamelessly to entertain Masao and the audience.
|
| 55 |
Mr. Showbiz
The film has a standard trajectory, but the details are unpredictable: Kitano fluctuates between goofy pratfalls. . . and elliptical pathos.
|
| 50 |
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.
|
| 50 |
USA Today
It's tough to think of another child-adult pairing in a long screen tradition with so little emotional kick.
|
| 50 |
New York Post
Beautiful camerawork, some interesting scenes, but extraordinarily slow.
|
| 50 |
Christian Science Monitor
Kitano's first major comedy is loose and likable.
|
| 40 |
Austin Chronicle
Not only is Kikujiro sweet and funny, it is, no doubt, Kitano's experimental "art film."
|
| 40 |
TV Guide
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.
|
| 40 |
LA Weekly
Ends up a flabby vehicle for the most banal of road-movie messages: The journey's the thing; the goal inevitably disappoints.
|
| 40 |
The New York Times
Dreamy touches can't compensate for the film's main flaw, which is that the relationship between the two main characters never really develops.
|
| 38 |
Boston Globe
Even allowing for differences in national styles, Kikujiro sprawls and stumbles. It's a road movie that turns into its own detour.
|
| 30 |
Village Voice
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.
|
| 20 |
Film.com
It does... apply Kitano's black-comic style to a different setting, and individual scenes sparkle with unexpected jokes, twists, and occasional cruelties.
|
| 10 |
Washington Post
The episodes are too convoluted to get into.
|
| 0 |
Entertainment Weekly
The film isn't just bad; it's a barely coherent, inert mess -- a heart-tugger for voidoids.
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