[Mashiro]

Kikujiro / 1999 / Japan / 7.8 out of 10 Rating on IMDb

Kikujiro is a brilliant drama comedy masterpiece coming from Japan by the famous and great Takeshi Kitano (also known as Beat Takeshi - movies like Outrage, Violent Cop, Fireworks). He is the writer, director and plays one the main roles. I highly recommend it because it simply said is a very good movie. Everything is done well, the acting, the comedy parts and everything else. The movie has funny scenes but also a lot of sad scenes (hence why drama comedy). The two main characters both share the same sad childhood. During their trip around Japan to visit the unknown mother of little boy Masao they do a lot of stupid and funny stuff while meeting a lot of different people along the trip and becoming friends with them. In the back the sadness always sets in when they discover that the mother of little Masao has founded a new family and that the mother of Kikujiro (Takeshi Kitano) is old and probably wouldn't even recognize or know Kikujiro anymore. Seeing how heart broken little Masao is after he saw that his mother that he never really knew (because she left him as a little baby with his grandmother) has a new family, Kikujiro does everything to cheer Masao up with a lot of stupid tricks and comedy setups with strangers they meet during their way back to their hometown.

I'll say it's an awesome drama comedy movie that hits you with sadness really right but also cheers you up afterwards.