Fans of the hard-boiled roles that Beat Takeshi Kitano usually assigns himself will be surprised by Kikujiro. This is a sweet-natured, if off-kilter, comedy about a boy and a misfit on a road trip.

Kitano -- who wrote, directed, stars in, edited and contributed art for this film -- is Kikujiro, a bad-tempered, small-time hood type. He fights with everyone he encounters. The role is almost a parody of all the tough-guy parts Kitano has become famous for in Japan.
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