Not one of Kitano's better films, in my opinion. It's supposed to be cute, but I found it rather annoying, not to mention way too long. Kitano plays a cantankerous middle-aged man, possibly mentally retarded in some way, who more or less kidnaps a young, friendless boy one summer and goes on a road trip with him. It starts off as pure selfishness at first - he thinks the boy is good luck when he's gambling. But soon they're friends and he wants to show the lonely kid a good time. The big problem is, Kikujiro (which is Kitano's character's name - he doesn't reveal it until the last minutes of the movie, like I'm supposed to really care) is a gigantic jerk. He's always treating people, even the little kid when's he's trying to be his friend, like garbage. Again, this is supposed to be cute and all in good fun, but I found it all nasty. Kitano is still a good director and there are a lot of good touches throughout. Jo Hisaishi wrote the score, and it makes the film a lot more pleasant than it would otherwise be.