Showa of Angels. (Kikujiro (DVD))

Member Name: peel.rebekah

Product:	Kikujiro (DVD)
Date:	03/11/01 (99 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Angels.

Disadvantages: Naah.

Takeshi Kitano has created several tones/characteristics/personae for his work in Japanese television and for the considerably more arty and introspective World Cinema forum; The Western world know him for his directorial workmanship and acting (under the title of Beat Takeshi), in such films as Violent Cop, Boiling Point and Hana-Bi, as well as for the stony and savage Sergeant Ham in '83's Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence, while his Japanese audience are rather more fond of his role as a television and stand-up comedian.

While in waiting for another slice of Beat in Battle Royale, I stumbled upon this little lost treasure at my local video shop. Now, normally a Takeshi title or cover leads the prospective viewer to the general conclusion that violence and blood is prerequisite...Ah, but not so with Kikujiro:

*The Film.

Masao is a young boy living with his grandmother; he has tired little eyes and a lonely life. His father is dead in a car accident and his grandmother informs him that his mother has to live far away due to her work. The Summer holidays are upon him, as are the local bullies, and Masao dreams of setting off on an adventurous journey in search of his mother.

Kikujiro (Takeshi) is hoodwinked into accompanying Masao on this excursion by his stringently mouthed wife - but before it can really begin, Kikujiro gambles away all of their money at the bicycle races, leaving them penniless and without legitimate means of continuing their route.

Masao takes a backseat to Kikujiro's rather childish and brutal attempts at getting them a ride, most of which fail abysmally, and resides mostly in his dreams of what ifs and images of his estranged mother...the reality of which he is about to discover, an awful realisation that Kikujiro has already predicted.

But the journey is in no way finished. This is where Kikujiro truely comes into his own and a comical and heartwarming road movie commences.

>*The Acting.

It's terribly hard to qualify a child actors' talents with one film, and even more so when that actor speaks in a language whose inflections completely escape you; Yusuke Sekiguchi is sad and quiet enough, yet most of his character is assisted by his beautifully choreographed dreamscapes and the scene titles that are taken from his point of view. As acting goes, then no, I'm afraid not; Yusuke brings nothing to the role that is of his own - rather Takeshi has created it for him already, and the actor has been chosen to fulfill a rather bland criteria.

Takeshi is an altogether different kettle of fish: This movie is a vehicle for his ambling squintingness, his quick wit and short temper. Now, I adore Beat, I think he is a alluring actor and a splendid director, yet Beat on screen is a little like Clint Eastwood or Sean Connery - his film character has become so well dressed and rehearsed that it is impossible for him to 'be' anybody else. And while one with knowledge of his previous appearances might think that this does not bode well for a sentimental road movie, trust me, it DOES work, it's just that it is more than a little self indulgent.

I can't whinge to much, as this is Beat's acting we?re talking about, and as usual his gaping stride and unbalanced mouth ready to tumble are perfect performances.

*The Direction.

I've read how Takeshi wanted to take this challenge; how he wanted to mould a genre that most people believed was outside of his field of expertise so that it became a 'Takeshi' film. He wanted his fingerprints all over it and he wanted it to scream his DIRECTORIAL name. If one tries to distinguish between Beat's acting and the directorship then we can still see that he has succeeded in this mission:

Takeshi always treats his films and storylines as a series of still images, rather than a fluid action image flowing gently into the next sc
ene. This gives his films a sense of photographic radiance, a taken moment in history captured for our perusal before being shown the next significant second. In his other films he tends to use this technique when filming a violent scene: He states the 'before' image (before the action has taken place) and then cuts to when the violence has past and the images that are left in its wake.

He also has a tendency to take his films out of the big cities, willing us to view rural Japan, the countryside, and to partake into a 'journey' of sorts. The main character in Takeshi's films tends to be isolated from the other players, and Masao is no exception - although he reacts to the others around him, he revels in his loneliness and silence.

This film is definitely Takeshi's without the insertion of his self-indulgent performance, so why does he ham his rascally macho scamp self up? I think, perhaps, that this movie was made to win over the Japanese audience that has so far ignored his movie making and concentrated on his television appearances; it feels like a compromise between his larger than life wacky comic persona, his need to go slightly mainstream and gooey, as well as trying desperately hard to please his foreign fans.

And whilst all of this works, and makes for a desperately heart string pulling tale full of enchanting and silly moments, one is left wondering how large Takeshi's ego really is.

*Conclusion.

I can gripe, but eventually I have to admit to being enchanted. Thoroughly recommended and I do hope you enjoy this sweety feel-good offering.

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