Kikujiro is the latest film from Japanese director Takeshi Kitano. However, it is far from a typical Kitano film. In the West, Kitano is best known for violent thrillers. Kikujiro is a very different type of film. It's a boilerplate, gruff-loner-gets-warmed-by-orphan comedy, but Kitano's shooting and cutting are still idiosyncratic, eruptive, and disarming.
This film is the story of 9-year-old Masao who lives with his grandmother. His father is dead, his mother is living and working a long way away. The boy is lonely and unhappy, and when he finds a photo of his mother and her address he's determined to go and find her. A grumpy, bickering couple become involved and the bossy wife orders her unwilling husband, Kikujiro, to escort the boy - which he does, but by a most circuitous route.
Kitano changes style so often that it all but eliminates narrative. The film is divided into sections like a photo album, with photos and captions doubling as chapter headings. It has intricately choreographed expressionist dream sequences, extended gags in extreme long shot, and absurd physical gags in medium shot that provoke blank stares from other characters. It's full of strange flights of fancy that come out of nowhere and go nowhere. And along with the laughs, it creates a sense of loss so strong and grievous that this feeling may stick with you for days. Yes, it's sentimental, but it's also highly atypical and downright weird.