KIDS RETURN Asia

The humorous opening stretch introduces
high school buddies Shinji and Masaru as
they cut classes and disrupt lessons. They
extort cash from their classmates to finance
long afternoons ,hanging out at a neighborhood
coffee shop and a diner frequented
by a local yakuza quartet, whose
chief takes a fatherly liking to Masaru.
When one of his regular extortion targets
enlists a boxer for protection, Masaru
takes a beating. To avoid future humiliation,
he joins a local gym and starts training
to fight. Following sheep-like after his
friend, Shinji also joins up and soon shows
the natural boxing talent and drive Masaru
lacks. While Shinji trains for junior competition
fights, the discouraged Masaru
earns his stripes as an ambitious young
yakuza member. Kitano’s touch throughout
most of his midsection is light … [b]ut his
intentions are gradually revealed to be
more somber, illustrating the crushing
shortage of hope and opportunity facing
contemporary Japanese youth. -David
Rooney, Variety