Kids Return

Shinji looks up to his friend Masaru, who doesn't seem to worry about the future nor his education... instead he spends his time pulling pranks on fellow students and teachers.

They don't bother looking for a purpose in life unlike many of the other characters, who all seem to have personal agendas or desperately seeking meaning.

Obviously they are failures in the eyes of overachieving Japanese society.

After a series of events they eventually find their goal in life. Shinji becomes a talented boxer and Masaru is making a fast career within the local yakuza.

This is a very personal and honest 'Kitano', an underdog story filled with moments of humor, melancholy, cynicism and realism. In life there are no real winners or losers, choices are made and often we fail.

In the end there is a moment of genuine Kitano magic, (like in most of his movies) where in one line one of them says it all.

Superb ! 9.5/10

Along with Fireworks, one of Takeshi Kitano's finest movies. This movie is a story of two high school? slackers who appear to be looking for a purpose in life. One becomes a good boxer and the other one becomes a yakuza member. After going thru their experience, they become more confident and content with their life even though it couldn't be said that they were exactly successful. Like real life, perhaps the experience is the thing. Good acting all around. It's always good to see Susumu Terajima in Takeshi's movies as he's a very good actor. Also very good score by Joe Hisaishi. The movie also appears to criticize the fact that many Japanese people treat everything- life, work, etc. so seriously that they don't take the time to enjoy life. Instead, they "pressure" themselves to do good, even though their heart may not be in it. It's not unlike many recent Japanese films like Shall We Dance or Bouncing KOgals, both also good movies. Overall, a 9 out of 10.

Where do you return to, if you decided to take a path that may not lead you back to anywhere in particular? This is the story of two different paths taken, though as you can imagine they intermingle and even when not there is a way Kitano tells this, that we stay engaged with both stories.

Having said that, maybe it was because I missed Kitano as an actor in this, maybe because it never really gripped me as much as other things he did, I never felt this coming close to other things he did. That doesn't mean this is bad, not in the slightest. It is quite good and in comparison to other stuff, some may even say excellent. Depending on how or where you set the bar of course. Good acting too

With this film Takeshi takes a look back at the past in the lives of several men who are in the same school. The two protagonists each choose their own direction: one becomes a boxer, the other joins the yakuza. The story is a reflection on how the choices a man makes can affect their lives and their relationships. As always the drama is interwoven with occasional scenes of violence, and the comedy is dark but never too depressing. Everything about Kids Return is good, and therefore another great piece of Japanse film-making.

So many things in this film are so well done. There is the nicely written and told story, the very suitable cast, the perfectly composed music and, of course, the excellent direction.

It was, from my point of view, a very good idea to have a variety of protagonists who are all, in some way, related to each other: all of them are just about to leave school and look for an adequate and fulfilling life. Some of them succeed, and some fail. Now the feat was to link all these single story lines together and make one film out of it. And Kitano really succeeded in this sector. And again this film has a lot of autobiographical elements in it. Kitano's own past as a delinquent or comedian for example.

The music was again a real pleasure. Joe Hisashi really knows his craft to compose very fitting melodies, which always remind me of old Japanese folk songs, and use them perfectly timed in Kitano's films.

If you've seen other Kitano movies and missed this one, you will definitely like it. For those who want to try out a Kitano film for the first time: watch it! It will be a very contemplative and rewarding experience.