Kikujiro(菊次郎の夏)

San Francisco Chronicle by Bob Graham

The comic drama is refreshingly anti- sentimental but will break your heart anyway.

Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum

An experimental feature that keeps shooting off its ideas like an endless row of skyrockets, Kikujiro ultimately conveys this grief with such sustained intensity that it can only leave a scorched path of devastation in its aftermath.

TV Guide Magazine by Ken Fox

Appears to be a complete about-face for Kitano, and yet it's unmistakably his, both stylistically (the film is gorgeous to look at) and thematically.

Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas

A heart-tugger made totally irresistible because of the combination of Kitano's wry, sly sense of humor and his rigorous detachment.

Portland Oregonian by Kim Morgan

It is off-putting at first, then refreshing, then downright touching. In short, it works.

Austin Chronicle by Marjorie Baumgarten

Not only is Kikujiro sweet and funny, it is, no doubt, Kitano's experimental "art film."

USA Today by Mike Clark

It's tough to think of another child-adult pairing in a long screen tradition with so little emotional kick.

Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman

The film isn't just bad; it's a barely coherent, inert mess -- a heart-tugger for voidoids.

Miami Herald by Rene Rodriguez

This genial, lyrical little movie seems guaranteed to broaden Kitano's fan base in the United States.

Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert

If the movie finally doesn't work as well as it should, it may be because the material isn't a good fit for Kitano's hard-edged underlying style.