Kokuho

Audience Reviews

View More

Shan Nov 26 Kokuho is three hours long and I didn’t move once. It takes you through fifty years of a man’s life in kabuki theater, and every scene earns its place—nothing drags, nothing is wasted. The performances are stunning, the cinematography pulls you onto the stage itself, and the character work is devastatingly good. You think you understand who you’re watching, and then the film quietly reveals the cost of his greatness. Everything introduced gets resolved. I’ve never seen anything like it.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ See more Liliko Nov 23 Three hours passed quickly watching beautiful artwork. Describing the conflict as a performer. See more Kn Nov 22 Wonderful. It too long. See more Glen Nov 16 Superb in so many ways! Visually and culturally rich with strong acting and a captivating storyline. See more How Beautiful Nov 16 It’s one of those movies I’m gonna think about for the rest of my life… gorgeous story telling and even more beautiful visuals. I went into this film knowing very little about Kabuki and now my interest and respect for the art has truly piqued!! Congrats on all the past and future success for the entire team that worked on Kokuho. WE WILL BE HEARING FROM THEM I’M SURE!! See more Miloslav C @Milovkino 4d It’s like Black Swan—only not about ballet, but about kabuki theater. Just to remind you: kabuki as a genre emerged in the 17th century, and to avoid "tempting" the audience, the shoguns banned women from performing—so all female roles were played by men. (In principle, European theater was arranged in much the same way.) For example, the main character’s signature performance is a play called The Bird Maiden, in which a bird falls in love with a young man and transforms into a woman to dance herself to death while confessing her love. To a Western viewer, the spectacle is quite peculiar (although for many cultures, classical ballet also seems like utter madness) and extremely dramatic. The protagonist’s life is dramatic as well—he was the son of a yakuza, and when his father was killed in a gang dispute, he ended up in a kabuki actors’ family. We follow his life from age 14 to his early 60s—from teenager to aging diva. Yes, the film is three hours long! He experiences dizzying highs and devastating lows, all of them tied to the art of kabuki, to which he devotes himself wholeheartedly. He sort of has a family too—a daughter, a wife—but they remain somewhere offstage, not particularly central. I recently posted my interview with Marina Abramović, where she said, among other things, that a true artist is not made for family—only for art. At least she’s able to admit it. The characters in this film do start families, but always as an afterthought, never seriously. And if they care about a child, it’s the boy—the heir to the artistic lineage. (Japan is, after all, a rather patriarchal country.) The protagonist dreams of just one thing: becoming the greatest kabuki actor in Japan. He is willing to do anything for that goal. And it is both terrifying and beautiful to watch. I don’t think the film will win its Oscar—competition is strong and the subject matter is quite niche—but even without the award it’s doing remarkably well: its domestic box office has already surpassed 100 million dollars on a budget of 8. And with a three-hour running time! Truly a national treasure for the Japanese. See more Read all reviews

Kokuho

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW