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IMDbPro

Kids Return

Original title: Kizzu ritân
  • 19961996
  • 1h 47m
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
6.4K
YOUR RATING
Kids Return (1996)
CrimeDramaSport
Dropping out of high school, two friends at first find success, one as a up-and-coming boxer and one as a low level gangster. Yet, their life decisions still find a way of catching up with t... Read allDropping out of high school, two friends at first find success, one as a up-and-coming boxer and one as a low level gangster. Yet, their life decisions still find a way of catching up with them.Dropping out of high school, two friends at first find success, one as a up-and-coming boxer and one as a low level gangster. Yet, their life decisions still find a way of catching up with them.
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
6.4K
YOUR RATING
    • Takeshi Kitano
    • Takeshi Kitano
  • Stars
    • Ken Kaneko
    • Masanobu Andô
    • Leo Morimoto
    • Takeshi Kitano
    • Takeshi Kitano
  • Stars
    • Ken Kaneko
    • Masanobu Andô
    • Leo Morimoto
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 23User reviews
    • 32Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Photos55

    Kids Return (1996)
    Kids Return (1996)
    Kids Return (1996)
    Masanobu Andô and Ken Kaneko in Kids Return (1996)
    Masanobu Andô and Ken Kaneko in Kids Return (1996)
    Masanobu Andô and Ken Kaneko in Kids Return (1996)
    Masanobu Andô and Ken Kaneko in Kids Return (1996)
    Masanobu Andô and Ken Kaneko in Kids Return (1996)
    Masanobu Andô in Kids Return (1996)
    Masanobu Andô and Ken Kaneko in Kids Return (1996)
    Masanobu Andô and Ken Kaneko in Kids Return (1996)
    Masanobu Andô and Ken Kaneko in Kids Return (1996)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Ken Kaneko
    • Masaru Miyawaki
    Masanobu Andô
    Masanobu Andô
    • Shinji Takagi
    Leo Morimoto
    • Homeroom Teacher
    Hatsuo Yamaya
    Hatsuo Yamaya
    • Boxing Club Manager
    Michisuke Kashiwaya
    • Hiroshi
    Yûko Daike
    Yûko Daike
    • Sachiko
    Susumu Terajima
    Susumu Terajima
    • No 2 In Local Gang
    Moro Morooka
    Moro Morooka
    • Hayashi
    Peking Genji
    • High School Student trying Comedy
    Atsuki Ueda
    • Reiko
    Kôtarô Yoshida
    • Eagle Asuka
    Takekazu Shigehisa
    • Trainer
    • (as Koichi Shigehisa)
    Kyôsuke Yabe
    • Hanayama
    Yoshitaka Ôtsuka
    • Delinquent group
    Kazuki Oh
    • Delinquent group
    Makoto Ashikawa
    • Teacher Hashida
    Kanji Tsuda
    Kanji Tsuda
    • Kazuo
    Sei Hiraizumi
    Sei Hiraizumi
    • Hiroshi's boss
      • Takeshi Kitano
      • Takeshi Kitano
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Takeshi Kitano's first film following his near-fatal scooter accident.
    • Quotes

      Shinji: Masaru, do you think we're already finished?

      Masaru: Hell no. We haven't even started.

    • Connections
      Featured in The Movie Show: Episode dated 15 June 1997 (1997)

    User reviews23

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    9/10
    A Masterpiece! One of the best Japanese films of the 90's.
    Kids return was never given theatrical release in the US, probably because Takeshi doesn't actually act in it, and it doesn't focus on Yakuza. Despite this, it is one of his finest films, and definitely among his most accessible.

    Made during his recovery from a motorcycle accident, the film focuses on a group of highschool students as they prepare to enter into the adult world. The two lead characters are Shinji and Masaru, delinquent losers who are looked down upon by their teachers, and feared by their classmates. After they're set up by the administration and thrown out of school, they fall into amateur boxing and embark onto different paths. We follow not only the two hoods, but their classmates as well, at they all enter into various occupations, trying to become adults and live a good life, and for one reason or another, failing.

    All this seems fairly conventional until you remember that it was written and directed by Beat Takeshi,who lends it his trademark melancholy sense of style, and injects the script with just enough irony and pathos that it resonates. On a technical level, this is one of Takeshi's finest achievements. I've often felt that in his other works, his simple still frame compositions and slow editing rhythms didn't quite synch with the material, almost as if they resulted more from not knowing what to do with the camera than any kind of personal vision. Here he proves me wrong. Kids Return is directed by a man with a confident and assured hand: the shots, while still easy identifiable as "Kitano-esque" (can we just coin that now), are framed with a poetic eye, fusing themselves to the material to lend it the perfect sense of mood. The editing is smooth, craftsmanlike, aided greatly, as always, by the brilliant music of Jo Hisaishi.

    The real difference here, though, is the writing. Kitano forgoes his usual rambling improvisational scene construction for a work that is very structured. The plot is circular, and the kids' lives are given a clear step by step descent into nothingness with an edge of Aristotalean inevitability thrown in. The result is something that is not only more coherent, but somehow also manages to be more naturalistic than his other films. Again, Takeshi's hand is still felt: from the affectionately stupid pranks of the leads to the recurring appearance of a twin comedy group, who banter in the style Kitano's own "The Two Beats." But it's organized, more confident. He knows what he wants to say, and how he wants to say it.

    The acting is uniformly great, with Masanobu Ando (a long way from his almost demonic role as Kiriyama in Kinji Fukasaku's Battle Royale) a definite standout as Shinji. With little to no dialogue, he still manages to convey a sense of likeability and character. Ken Kaneko plays the more garish of the two, but still maintains the air of innocence that the part requires. There are also fun cameos from Takeshi regulars Ryo Ishibashi (who, happily, is spared any nasty encounters with a piano wire), Ren Osugi, and Susumu Terajima. Perhaps the ultimate compliment to the actors, and to the film itself, is that we don't seeing the man himself on-screen. There's no doubt that Takeshi has one of the brightest, larger than life, screen presences in all of cinema. He so dominates the movies he acts in that they would fall apart without him there. Kids Return, however, stands alone with a strength that seems to almost grow with his absence.

    Final moments bring our kids back to the school ground where they grow up and the summation given by Masaru transcends the events beforehand in a way that would have made even Ozu proud. Where do you go when you've got nothing to look forward to, and the entire rest of your life still left to live? Kitano's encounter with death has somehow made him even more pessimistic, but at least he came out with something to say.
    helpful•39
    4
    • palpatine-1
    • Feb 2, 2002

    Details

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    • Release date
      • July 27, 1996 (Japan)
      • Japan
      • Japanese
    • Also known as
    • Production companies
      • Bandai Visual Company
      • Office Kitano
      • Ohta Publishing
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 47 minutes
      • Color
      • Dolby

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