Kids Return

Kids Return (キッズ・リターン, Kizzu Ritān) is a 1996 Japanese film written, edited and directed by

The music was composed by Joe Hisaishi, and the cinematographer was Katsumi Yanagishima.

Plot

Shinji and Masaru are high school delinquents, terrifying their classmates, stealing money, and even setting their teacher's car on fire. After some of their victims hire a boxer to beat up Masaru, he decides to get revenge, and takes his shy friend Shinji along with him to a boxing gym. To their trainers' surprise, Shinji is naturally-talented at boxing and easily defeats Masaru in a sparring session. Masaru encourages his friend to keep going at it, and quits boxing, opting instead to join the yakuza. As Shinji focuses on becoming a successful boxer, Masaru aims to become a gang leader, and their paths diverge.

While the two of them climb to the top in their respective areas, Shinji adopts an unhealthy lifestyle that results in the end of his boxing career. Likewise, Masaru's arrogance and disrespect for his boss gets him kicked out of the yakuza. In the end, they are both left with nothing, and meet again. As they ride their bike together in the schoolyard, Shinji wonders if this is the end of their lives, but Masaru assures him that "it's only the beginning".

Cast and roles

• Ken Kaneko as Masaru
• Masanobu Andō
  as Shinji
• Leo Morimoto as Teacher
• Hatsuo Yamatani as boxing club manager (credited as Hatsuo Yamaya)
• Michisuke Kashiwaya as Hiroshi
• Mitsuko Oka as coffee-shop owner, Sachiko's mother
• Yūko Daike as Sachiko
• Ryo Ishibashi as local Yakuza chief
• Susumu Terajima as No. 2 in local gang
• Moro Morooka as Hayashi
• Peking Genji
• Atsuki Ueda as Reiko
• Kotaro Yoshida
• Koichi Shigehisa as Trainer
• Kyōsuke Yabe
• Yoshitaka Ōtsuka as delinquent
• Masami Shimojō as Yakuza godfather
• Kazuki Oh
• Shintarō Hasegawa
• Kanji Tsuda
• Yojin Hino as taxi office worker (credited as Yōjin Hino)
• Ren Osugi as taxi passenger
• Takashi Hagino

Soundtrack

All compositions by Joe Hisaishi.

1. "Meet Again" − 5:02
2. "Graduation" − 1:07
3. "Angel Doll" − 2:21
4. "Alone" − 1:15
5. "As a Rival" − 1:29
6. "Promise... for Us" − 5:08
7. "Next Round" − 1:28
8. "Destiny" − 3:31
9. "I Don't Care" − 2:18
10. "High Spirits" − 2:03
11. "Defeat" − 2:29
12. "Break Down" − 3:46
13. "No Way Out" − 2:51
14. "The Day After" − 0:44
15. "Kids Return" − 4:40

Reception

Critical reception

At the time of its release, Kids Return was Takeshi Kitano's most successful film yet in his native Japan, which until then had been notedly less enthusiastic about his films than international viewers.^[1] Rotten Tomatoes gives this film a 100% approval rating based on reviews from five critics, with an average score of 7.8 out of 10.^[2] David Wood, writing for the BBC, described it as "a tender, funny and melancholy affair which will come as a delight to ardent admirers after the recent Kikujiro." He gave the film 4 out of 5 stars.^[3]

Accolades

At the 1997

External links

• Kids Return at
  IMDb
• Kids Return at AllMovie
• Ｋｉｄｓ Ｒｅｔｕｒｎ (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved 2007-07-19.

Reviews

• Nippon Cinema
• Review by Boris Trbic at Senses of Cinema