Kids Return (1996)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Anthony L

  
  Takeshi captures teenage angst, growing pains and uncertainty of adulthood brilliantly here, in his usual mischievous fashion. If you liked this then you should read his book 'Boy'. It is very similar and typical of his earlier work - This is gentle Kitano and not gangster… More
  Takeshi captures teenage angst, growing pains and uncertainty of adulthood brilliantly here, in his usual mischievous fashion. If you liked this then you should read his book 'Boy'. It is very similar and typical of his earlier work - This is gentle Kitano and not gangster or 'Beat' Takeshi. The pace and ambiance of this film is sublime and uplifting without ever being sentimental, a real change in direction from Getting Any? (his 'Beat' suicide) and the first step of a new way of directing after his near fatal crash that changed his career.

• Tsubaki S

  
  For some reason i keep forgeting that i even own this movie, when it's such a great film for all the right reasons. A "coming of age" story without all the usual cliches and bullshit of those type of movies. The fear anyone has to the "adult life", to become… More
  For some reason i keep forgeting that i even own this movie, when it's such a great film for all the right reasons. A "coming of age" story without all the usual cliches and bullshit of those type of movies. The fear anyone has to the "adult life", to become just what everyone told us we should become, instead of taking the risk of trying to be something made by ourselfs. All this is put together by Kitano with a great precision and attention to detail. In these days of "Juno" and other assorted artificial "teen" movies this is the type of movie the world needs more often.

• Luke B

  
  Takeshi Kitano captures, perfectly, that youthful fear of the unknown. Perhaps a fear that never truly goes away. This is the tale of adolescents that are conditioned to aim towards something from an early age, so early in fact, that the desire to change course is often ignored. In a… More
  Takeshi Kitano captures, perfectly, that youthful fear of the unknown. Perhaps a fear that never truly goes away. This is the tale of adolescents that are conditioned to aim towards something from an early age, so early in fact, that the desire to change course is often ignored. In a very short amount of time these kids want to be baseball players, comedians, gangsters and boxers. Things go right, things go wrong, things go right and then wrong etc. It's all shot with Kitano's complete lack of sentimental crap and his beautiful subtlety. The boxing "montage" scene isn't like others, where the music swells and we see slow motion punching. It's a simple, but powerfully edited moment, where Ando keeps knocking people down. Kitano's trademark sudden violence and humour also make small, but memorable appearances. An excellent, thoughtful and moving film.