Gohatto (1999)

Director:

Nagisa Ôshima

Writers:

Ryotaro Shiba (novellas "Maegami No Sozaburo" and "Sanjogawara Ranjin from Shinsengumi Keppuroku")
Nagisa Ôshima (writer)

Release Date:

18 December 1999 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama | History

Plot:

Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting...

Plot Keywords:

Samurai | Japan | Homosexuality | Gay | Androgyny

Awards:

10 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Takeshi Kitano	...	Captain Toshizo Hijikata (as 'Beat' Takeshi)
Ryuhei Matsuda	...	Samurai Sozaburo Kano
Shinji Takeda	...	Lieutenant Soji Okita
Tadanobu Asano	...	Samurai Hyozo Tashiro
Koji Matoba	...	Samurai Heibei Sugano
Masa Tommies	...	Inspector Jo Yamazaki
Masatô Ibu	...	Officer Koshitaro Ito
Uno Kanda	...	The Geisha Nishikigi-Dayû
Kazuko Yoshiyuki	...	The Servant Omatsu
Tomorowo Taguchi	...	Samurai Tojiro Yuzawa
Yoichi Sai	...	Commander Isami Kondo
Jiro Sakagami	...	Lieutenant Genzaburo Inoue
Zakoba Katsura	...	Wachigaiya
Kei Satô	...	The Narrator (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chikako Aoyama
Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Daisuke Iijima
Yoichi Iijima
Yoshiaki Inagaki
Yôzaburô Itô
Iwawo
Toujirô Kinoshita
Seiji Kurasaki
Emiko Michii
Kumotarô Mukai
Takuya Muramatsu
Mami Nakamura
Hirofumi Nakase
Yô Obara
Takashi Odashima
Kazuhiko Okuno
Yoshiyuki Omori
Usaburô Ôshima
Tôru Ôtomo
Kasumi Sawanoi
Shun Sugata
Shougo Tajika
Sanji Takei
Yôji Tanaka	...	Samurai executed by Kanô
Susumu Terajima	...	spy of Shinsen-gumi
Sayami Toda
Makoto Togashi
Yoshiaki Umegaki
Kenichi Urata
Masanosuke Yamaguchi
Yukiharu Yamaguchi
Shûji Yamazaki

Also Known As:

Taboo (International: English title)
Tabou (Gohatto) (France)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

France | UK | Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:15 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Hong Kong:IIB | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | Canada:A (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Kyoto, Japan

Company:

BS Asahi

An Exquisite travelogue to another place, time, and culture

Nagisa Oshima's work is always visually exquisite. He has that finely honed, generations-old Japanese eye for detail which has served his artistry well over the last 50 years. It reveals itself to be the difference in the world of film that a Monet, Michelangelo, or Van Gogh is to sidewalk chalk drawings.

Decades ago, Oshima set out explore new territories, to leave formula and standard, approved plot progressions behind and delve into the deeper recesses of the human experience. What comes out of that are works of storytelling which require more attention and involvement on the part of the viewer than your typical Michael Bay or Renny Harlin flick. Not that pure escapist entertainment is a bad thing; far from it. But you don't generally come away from one of those features wanting to go sit at a table with your friends, staying up to the wee hours discussing what you've just seen and all the ramifications of each scene. In simpler terms, they don't enrich your intellect! (I think even Bay?s and Harlin?s most ardent fans can agree with me on that part :-) ).

"Gohatto" is the Japanese word meaning "Taboo" in its simplest form, so you know going in your about to see something out of the ordinary. Oshima has long had a fascination with the dichotomies in Japanese culture (and frankly most cultures) between how behavior is proscribed and how the more primal, instinctual urges (mostly sex) always find their way to the surface in spite of those mores. Oshima has also found a fascination in seeing how both Western and Eastern cultures have, at one time or another (or more than one), put strict moral taboos on homosexuality, adultery, and even on prostitution, but these strictures have never eliminated or even slowed down their existence.

"Gohatto" takes us into a world 150 years ago where such things don't exist on the surface but are fully integrated into what is real life just beneath. Whether such subject matter, or exploring Eastern cultures, particularly interests you or not, if you're interested in being challenged by the art that you see, "Gohatto" (like Peter Greenaway's recent "The Pillow Book") is a must-see film.