Kikujiro (1999): Endless Summers

Not a bad way to spend the holidays



Kikujiro No Natsu (Kikujiro’s Summer) is one of my yearly rituals, one of my regulars that I pull out during the appropriate season. Die Hard and Bad Santa at Christmas, Planes Trains and Automobiles at Thanksgiving, John Carpenter’s the Thing at Halloween (which doesn’t even make sense in a universe where John Carpenter’s Halloween exists but that’s the way it is), Sudden Death during the Stanley Cup, and Ferris Bueller and Kikujiro during the summer. Of course, I’m lucky if I manage to watch all of those in a given year at their designated time, but that’s the idea at any rate.

Kikujiro goes heavy on the whimsy right from the start, creating a sense of the wonder that children often find in the ordinary. Where Wes Anderson’s whimsical sensibility grates on me more and more severely with each subsequent movie he makes, Kikujiro doesn’t rankle me at all. Perhaps it’s because none of director Takeshi Kitano’s other films is quite like Kikujiro, or maybe it’s the oddball and child-like point of view throughout.


If you haven’t seen it, there isn’t much to explain. School has just ended and Masao is lonely. His father is dead, his mother works in another town, he lives with his grandmother, and his friends have all gone on their summer vacations. One of his grandmother’s acquaintances takes pity on Masao and orders her layabout husband (played by Kitano) to take the boy on a trip to visit his mother. And so they begin a picaresque jaunt through the Japanese countryside.



The trip to find Masao’s mother is often as not pushed to the background while a parade of strange and interesting characters come forward to have their moment in the sun and contribute memories to the summer vacation journal that Masao is writing. There are some dark passages but they’re brief enough, and like any good summer vacation the fun parts are what stay with you after it’s all over.




Kitano’s character consistently enlivens the proceedings and keeps things from getting too schmaltzy. Throughout the movie Kitano blusters and threatens his way through nearly every interaction he has. He steals, threatens, whines, cajoles, goofs off, complains even when people help him, makes a fool of himself multiple times, and yet manages to be endearing all the same. There’s a nice little scene in the latter half of the film where Kitano surreptitiously steals a man’s lunch without the man noticing. After the man has left, Kitano selflessly gives the food to Masao. Masao is somewhat surprised by the generosity and asks what Kitano will do for dinner. Kitano stoically explains that although he is hungry, this is something that adults are supposed to do for children and that he will get by. Kitano then excuses himself to go to the bathroom and once he is out of sight immediately begins gorging himself on more hidden food.



Here's another little comedy gem (PS: finally figured out how to synch the sound and picture, apologies about the bad job on the Rem Lezar vids)


Man okay, I’ve already written more than I meant to about this, but I want to say a few more things. That’s the problem with blog posts I guess, there’s no reason to stop. This one really got away from me though since I originally only wanted to do like three paragraphs.




Anyway things I like in Kikujiro: the inventive camera angles; this is probably the only time I’ve seen a shot from a hubcap’s point of view. How appearances are often deceiving, like the bikers being friendly softies. I also enjoy Kitano’s great stiff-legged gait, he’s like a really young and spry grandfather. His raspy voice only adds to this effect. The child-like touches are great too, such as the crayon used for the Japanese writing in the credits and intertitles, the sped-up sequence with the trash-can, the odd sound effects like with the lizard, and the silly slapstick that pops up throughout. And the music, how did I get this far without mentioning the music? Joe Hisaishi does a wonderful job, and the main theme is one of my favorite pieces from the movies.



I can’t front though, it’s not all perfect. I don’t like the dream sequences much, the second one in particular kind of drags. And the kid actor is terrible. That’s probably a little strong, but at best he’s a non-factor. Not a lot of charisma or evidence of anything happening behind his blank stares.




In conclusion it’s a surprisingly touching and bittersweet effort from Kitano who, as usual, does a fine job on the writing, directing, editing, and acting fronts. Although Kikujiro always leaves me a bit sad by the time it’s over, I’m always eager to watch it over again right away. Luckily, there’s always next summer...