Kids Return

Masaru and Shinji are problem kids who enter society without apparent talents or prospects; their setbacks and failures as, respectively, a yakuza and a pro boxer are contrasted with the career paths of others from their school, two of whom struggle to make the grade as stand-up comics. Although it's set in the present, the indefinable retro flavour tips you the wink that these are memories and reflections from 'Beat' Takeshi's own adolescence - which doubtless explains the way the film extends such warmth to its characters without indulging or excusing their flaws. Unlike previous Takeshi protagonists, these kids don't have the easy option of 'dying well'; their quests for a viable way to survive are, however, seen with all the director's usual visual and rhythmic flair.