1999 Japanese film by Nagisa ?shima
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(
November 2023
)
|
Gohatto
(
御法度
)
, also known as
Taboo
, is a 1999 Japanese film directed by
Nagisa ?shima
. Its subject is
homosexuality
in the
Shinsengumi
during the
bakumatsu
period, the end of the samurai era in the mid-19th century.
The production was Oshima's final film before his death, thirteen years after
Gohatto
's premiere.
[1]
Plot
[
edit
]
At the start of the movie, the young and handsome Kan? S?zabur? (
Ryuhei Matsuda
) is admitted to the
Shinsengumi
, an elite samurai group led by
Kond? Isami
(
Yoichi Sai
) that seeks to defend the
Tokugawa shogunate
against reformist forces. He is a very skilled swordsman, but it is his appearance that makes many of the others in the (strictly male) group, both students and superiors, attracted to him, creating tension within the group of people vying for Kan?'s affections.
Cast
[
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]
Production
[
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]
The original title of the film,
Gohatto
, is an old-fashioned term that can be translated as "against the law". Nowadays, "gohatto" can be translated as "strictly forbidden" or "taboo" ("tabu").
[
citation needed
]
During the filming of
Taboo
, actor
Ryuhei Matsuda
was sixteen years old.
[
citation needed
]
It was Nagisa ?shima's final directorial effort.
Reception
[
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]
Roger Ebert
wrote that "
Taboo
is not an entirely successful film, but it isn't boring."
[2]
Peter Bradshaw
of
The Guardian
said that it was "a film which for some will be dismayingly impenetrable, but it is unmistakably the work of a master film-maker and a work of enormous strangeness and charm."
[3]
On the
review aggregator
website
Rotten Tomatoes
, 71% of 21 critics' reviews are positive.
[4]
The film was a financial success in Japan, grossing ¥1.01 billion and becoming one of the highest-grossing films of the year.
[5]
The film was also given a limited theatrical release in North America where it grossed $114,425.
[6]
Home video
[
edit
]
From July 2020 through June 2021, the
Criterion Channel
streamed the film as part of the feature collection "Scores by
Ryuichi Sakamoto
".
[7]
Criterion's description for the film was;
This mesmerizing, atmospheric samurai tale infuses the genre with a subversive undercurrent of
homoerotic frisson
. When the young, strikingly handsome Kano Sozaburo (
Ryuhei Matsuda
) joins an
elite samurai unit
, his presence unleashes tensions among his fellow swordsmen?including his superior Hijikata Toshizo (
Takeshi Kitano
)?as they find themselves competing for his affections. The final feature from iconoclastic auteur
Nagisa Oshima
is a daring, visually sumptuous exploration of the rigid social codes of nineteenth-century Japan.
[8]
Accolades
[
edit
]
It was nominated for the
Palme d'Or
at the
2000 Cannes Film Festival
,
[9]
losing out to
Dancer in the Dark
.
The film won four awards at the 2000
Blue Ribbon Awards
: Best Director for
Nagisa ?shima
, Best Film, Best New Actor for
Ryuhei Matsuda
, and Best Supporting Actor for
Shinji Takeda
.
Ryuhei Matsuda won the 2000
Japan Academy Prize
for Newcomer of the Year; the film was nominated in nine other categories. Matsuda also won the Best New Actor category of the 2001
Kinema Junpo Awards
, as well as the 2001
Yokohama Film Festival
prize for Best New Talent.
Tadanobu Asano
won the Best Supporting Actor category at the 2000
Hochi Film Awards
.
Notes
[
edit
]
- Thompson, Nathaniel (2006) [2002].
DVD Delirium: The International Guide to Weird and Wonderful Films on DVD; Volume 1 Redux
.
Godalming
, England: FAB Press. pp. 331?332.
ISBN
1-903254-39-6
.
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]
Awards for
Gohatto
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1976-1980
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1981-1990
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1991?2000
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2001?2010
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2011?2020
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2021?present
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