The Open Road: Kikujiro (35mm)
Opens October 5, 2026
Stuck in Tokyo with his grandmother while all his buddies are out of town, the start of summer vacation has been a bit of a drag for 9-year-old Masao. When the boy impulsively decides to set out and track down the mother he’s never met, a concerned neighbor sends her indolent, former yakuza husband Kikujiro (Takeshi Kitano) to escort him on the road. Gambling away their travel money on cycling races, the pair are forced to rely on the good graces of colorful characters they meet along the way. Always eccentric, Takeshi “Beat” Kitano spent the ‘80s and ‘90s stretching his deadpan style across violent yakuza titles, broad comedies, and heartfelt dramas, and here he channels his cross-genre strengths in a bumbling quest across the countryside with warmth and signature slapstick. Accompanied by an unforgettable Joe Hishashi score and full of delightful digressions found in the best road trips, Kikujiro stands as one of the most charming summer vacations in cinema.
"It’s full of strange flights of fancy that come out of nowhere and go nowhere. And along with the laughs, it creates a sense of loss so strong and grievous that this feeling may stick with you for days. Yes, it’s sentimental, but it’s also highly atypical and downright weird. And it’s been haunting me ever since I first saw it." — Jonathan Rosenbaum
35mm print courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
- Original Language Title: Kikujiro
- Director: Takeshi Kitano
- Principal Cast: Takeshi Kitano, Yusuke Sekiguchi, Kayoko Kishimoto, Yuko Daike, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Beat Kiyoshi
- Country: Japan
- Year: 1999
- Running Time: 121 min.
- Producer: Takio Yoshida, Masayuki Mori
- Screenplay: Takeshi Kitano
- Cinematographers: Katsumi Yanagijima
- Editors: Yoshinori Ota, Takeshi Kitano
- Music: Joe Hisaishi
- Filmography: Broken Rage (2024), Outrage (2010), Hana-bi (1997), Sonatine (1993), A Scene at the Sea (1991), Boiling Point (1990)
- Language: Japanese
- Has Subtitles: Yes
- US Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics