{"id":13820,"date":"2026-02-18T14:34:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T19:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/?p=13820"},"modified":"2026-02-18T14:34:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T19:34:06","slug":"movie-review-kokuho","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/2026\/02\/movie-review-kokuho\/","title":{"rendered":"Movie Review – Kokuho"},"content":{"rendered":"

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What would you give \u2014 or give up<\/em> \u2014 for a chance at true greatness?<\/p>\n

Kokuho (\u56fd\u5b9d, “National Treasure”) <\/em>is a stunning glimpse into the heart of kabuki set against the backdrop of post-war economic boom. An epic tale of family, masculinity, craft, and friendship. Without spoiling it, the movie follows Tachibana Kikuo, the orphaned son of a Yakuza boss who is taken into the care of national kabuki treasure Hanjiro Hanai II. Hanjiro is currently raising his own son Shunsuke to become his successor and inherit the title of Hanjiro Hanai III. Both boys come to take on the roles of onnagata, performers who play the female roles in kabuki, which contrasts sharply with the hyper-machismo of the Yakuza world that Kikuo knew beforehand. The boys are trained in unison, leading to a beautiful rivalry full of professional and emotional passion as well as heartbreak, and ultimately, triumph.<\/p>\n

The movie spans decades, from the early sixties straight through to a finale in 2014. I am not here to summarise or spoil it, so I am not going to delve into the plot, but that timeframe encompasses so much character development, both positive and negative. We see Kikuo and Shunsuke’s lives interwoven as they train together, rise to stardom together, let bitter rivalries and the public’s fickle attention get the better of them. We see them at their highest, and at their lowest, and at all the poignant messes in between as their careers ebb and flow, and as they drift and out of each others’ lives. Kokuho<\/em> is not what I would consider an uplifting<\/em> movie, but it has moments of great optimism and hope, and a pure and devoted heart.<\/p>\n

I admit I went into the movie biased for two reasons; first, and most obvious, is the wardrobe and set design. This movie is absolute eye-candy for anyone interested in kimono and traditional Japanese arts. The second \u2014 and far more vapid \u2014 reason is that Watanabe Ken plays the veteran kabuki star, father, and mentor Hanjiro. I could watch that man read the phone book and be happy with my life choices, if I’m being honest.<\/p>\n

Kokuho<\/em> is a visual masterpiece, a lush love letter to a venerated art form. The story unfolds in a sharp contrast of dramatic, gut-wrenching action and quiet, meditative moments that embody the Japanese concept of ma<\/em> (\u9593), a sort of purposeful void, pause, or empty moment that helps to emphasise the action or space surrounding it. Ma<\/em> is often used in traditional theatre, both noh and kabuki, and I have no doubt the similar use of pauses, silences, and visual empty or liminal spaces was absolutely intentional. However, it can make things hard to follow if you are unfamiliar with it; jumps in scene, location, or emotional tone may end up feeling disjointed or even badly edited to viewers without that frame of reference. The lives of the actors are interwoven deftly with stage performances, which help to underscore the reflected themes and emotions happening in both, but again, this may prove distracting or confusing for some viewers, especially those coming into this with little to no knowledge of kabuki.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>It may be due to this that Kokuho<\/em> was not nominated for a best foreign film Academy Award, which is a travesty in my opinion. I haven’t seen any of the films that did get nominated but I stand stubbornly by my statement, because this is my blog and I can. It was<\/strong> nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, which I absolutely understand. Not just for the traditional oshiroi and wigs, but for the incredibly natural aging that happens over the course of the film. It’s impossible to tell what ages the actors actually are, and if they were aged down or up. I do hope we get to see the team in kimono (and maybe even nihongami) on red carpets during awards season, but I don’t have my hopes up.<\/p>\n

There’s a reason Kokuho<\/em> has become the highest-grossing live-action film in Japanese history. It’s more than a “foreign film” at this point, it’s a global phenomenon. And not without due cause; it is a feat of both visual and emotional storytelling. It’s rare that I sit through an entire movie without getting up at least a couple of times to pee or stretch my legs \u2014 let alone a movie with a three-hour run time. During my first watch, I somehow managed to stay put for the whole thing (minus one quick washroom break), and at no point did I find myself wondering how much was left. The second watch-through was much longer and more fragmented over the course of several days, as I paused regularly to take notes and capture images.<\/p>\n

One repeated device in the movie that I really appreciated, as someone not terribly familiar with kabuki, was these cards at the beginning of every major dance sequence. It helped give context to each dance, which is vitally important since, as I mentioned earlier, the themes and emotions conveyed in the dances often mirror what’s happening off-stage in some way.<\/p>\n\n\t\t