“Kokuho” Puts on a Spellbinding 3 Hour Kabuki Epic
A certain level of obsession is required to become great at a chosen skill, and this single-minded approach is fantastic fodder for films. The Social Network, Rocky, Whiplash, Black Swan…the list goes on. Director Lee Sang-il’s three-hour epic, Kokuho, takes that obsessive determination to the kabuki stage. Kokuho is adapted by Satoko Okudera and based on a novel of the same name by Shuichi Yoshida. The film was selected by Japan as its entry for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards after it gained critical and commercial acclaim at the Cannes and Toronto International Film Festivals.
courtesy of Kokuho
Kokuho begins in Nagasaki in 1964 at a New Year’s gathering. Hanai Hanjiro II (Ken Watanabe), an acclaimed kabuki actor, dines with the yakuza group Tachibana. During the meal, the son of the Tachibana leader, Kikuo (Ryo Yoshizawa), performs an excerpt of Barrier Gate, a kabuki play. Hanjiro is impressed with Kikuo’s onnagata performance and asks to speak with him when the play is over, but the introduction is sidelined by an attack from a rival yakuza gang that kills Kikuo’s father. A year after the fact, Hanjiro accepts Kikuo as his apprentice to train alongside his son, Shunsuke (Ryusei Yokohama). In kabuki, bloodlines are highly valued, and this makes Shunsuke the more suitable candidate to inherit the Tanba-ya house from Hanjiro. It is Kikuo, though, who shows more promise as the two train together.
courtesy of Kokuho
Kokuho means Living National Treasure, a title bestowed upon an individual as a Preserver of Important Intangible Cultural Properties by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The title comes with a yearly stipend, and only 116 people at a time can hold this honor. When a Living National Treasure dies, someone new is selected in their place. While neither Kikuo nor Shunsuke openly admits it, the title of Living National Treasure of Kabuki is what they’re both after. They’re far more willing to admit that they’re vying for Hanjiro’s affection and attention. Kikuo has more focus and determination, and he’s more willing to exhaust himself for a chance at greatness. Shunsuke coasts on his family name, under the impression that he’s the heir to the Tanba-ya house of kabuki and no one can replace him. Over the course of fifty years, Shunsuke and Kikuo trade successes and failures in the pursuit of something larger than themselves.
“He’s a monster.” “Yes, but he’s a beautiful monster.” To become a legend, one must lose oneself, to an extent, and indulge in one’s ruthlessly determined side. While not as body-horror adjacent or anxiety-inducing as Whiplash or Black Swan, the epic nature of Kokuho lends itself to a different feeling, one of exhaustion for the two men at its center. They strive for impossible ideals that can, and likely will, ruin them. Kokuho asks what the cost of beauty is. If the pain, loss, and exhaustion we put ourselves through in the name of art are worthwhile, or if there’s an inherent irrelevance to a life spent in pursuit of an impossible ideal. While the three-hour runtime will scare many away, those who immerse themselves in Kokuho will be taken on an epic adventure that encompasses friendship, rivalry, and the murky inbetween.
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