Kikujiro

(Kikujirô no natsu, Takeshi Kitano, Japan 1999, 121 min., 35mm, Japanese w/subtitles)

Takeshi Kitano. Nine-year-old Masao and veteran gangster Kikujiro (Kitano), a friend of Masao’s grandmother, travel across Japan to find Masao’s mother, becoming fast friends and crashing into increasingly surreal adventures along the way. After a series of violent gangster thrillers, Kitano surprised his fans with this mixture of drama and slapstick, revealing a tender side to his stereotypical hard-boiled and stone-faced professional with a gun.