Sightlines · reception
How Kikujiro was received
1999 · Takeshi Kitano · Kikujiro on Sightlines
The arc
Cannes 1999 didn't quite know what to do with it — critics expecting another stone-faced Kitano crime film found a gentle road comedy instead, and it left the festival empty-handed. It's since become one of his most beloved films, a reappraisal helped enormously by Joe Hisaishi's score seeping into the wider culture.
What’s debated
The perennial Kitano-fan split: is this too sentimental and saggy compared to Sonatine and Hana-bi, or is the softness precisely the point?
Its footprint
Joe Hisaishi's 'Summer' theme has completely escaped the film — it's a piano-recital staple and one of the most instantly recognizable pieces of film music in East Asia, hummed by millions who've never seen the movie it came from.
Where it stands
The gateway Kitano — the comfort-film of his catalog and a Letterboxd favorite, the one you hand to people frightened off by his yakuza pictures.
Did you know? Kikujiro was the name of Kitano's own father, a gruff, gambling-prone man Kitano has said he barely connected with — the title character is a nod to him.
Named by the director
- The Wizard of Oz (1939) — Kitano cited it as the model for the film's episodic journey structure, with strange companions met along the road.