Kokuho

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Sty M The actresses are strong, and the boy playing Kikuo is a revelation. Tanaka Min, a legendary modern dancer, radiates a strange, magnetic presence, and Watanabe Ken holds his ground. Nakamura Ganjiro, a real scion of a great kabuki family and playing the oily big shot in this film, is superb—though he’s always typecast as hero because of his lineage, he’d make an equally convincing villain. // But the camera, editing, and lighting are relentlessly flat. The breathtaking shots in the director's previous work "The Wandering Moon"—the ones that dazzled audiences—turn out to have been the cinematographer’s achievement, not the director’s. This film proves it. // Take the opening raid by Yakusa clan: Nagase Masatoshi is rough and compelling, yet the framing and pacing are slack, draining all tension. The close-ups don’t bite, the wide shots sag. And the whole picture proceeds in that frustrating, half-numb register. It also exposes the filmmaker’s lack of grounding in Japanese cinema from the yakuza cycle through to Ōshima Nagisa in the 1950s and ’60s. // Actors can drill kabuki movements all they like, but they’ll never fully look the part. Even Tanaka Min’s Sagi-musume (heron girls) misses the mark—so how could today’s young leads pull it off? Still, when Yoshizawa Ryō first performs his long monologue from Sonezaki Shinjū, the scene almost takes flight. Almost—until a clumsy pipe close-up and sluggish cross-cutting ruin it. // The two male leads clearly have talent and drive. Some rehearsal-room shots nearly soar. That they don’t land on screen is on the director and the script. // The script, especially from the middle of the story, devolves into contrived confusion. The visuals only amplify it. By the time we reach the grand appearance of the “Living National Treasure” in Sagi musume play, I felt nothing but disbelief. Any critic who praises this moment has simply never watched real kabuki, bunraku, or nō with care. // So: not a total failure. No. The effort is there, the actors give what they can. But the director’s banality lets every crucial screw slip loose. The result is a workmanlike misfire—competent, never compelling. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 08/29/25 Full Review Yoshifumi N “Kokuho” is, without question, the most moving film of the year and the crowning achievement of 2025. Centering on the uniquely Japanese art of kabuki, it eloquently and delicately portrays half a century of human passion, conflict, and love with a rare mastery. The seamless fusion of breathtaking cinematography, immersive sound, meticulous direction, and soul-baring performances by the cast overwhelms the senses. Even within the entire history of cinema, this work stands among the finest ever made. Its scope, depth, and universal emotional resonance transcend borders, making it fully deserving of the Academy Award for Best Picture. “Kokuho” stands as a pinnacle of the cinematic art form. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/12/25 Full Review 88 l Best movie in this year This movie told us Japanese traditional performing arts in a beautiful yet fleeting way. Keyword is a blood. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/25/25 Full Review Read all reviews

Kokuho

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