A Review by Jink
This is a movie about gay samurai so I thought that would pertain to the interests of this sphere. It is currently available on DVD and VCD and maybe for rental if you have a Japanese video store next to your bagel joint.
In the USA, the film is mighty obscure. I myself have to thank a very good friend with a telepathic nose for Asian asspieces for bringing it to my attention in the first place.
Who should see this movie?
Any of you historical whores who love seeing men in kimonos and wacky hairdos bitch about the shogun...
(The fact that the Shinsengumi are clothed in simple black would be something only history buffs would get their knickers twisted over.)
(The historically accurate dress was light blue with a triangle motif.)
(Shut up.)
Anyone who likes their boys soft, slender, underaged and cock-free....
Anyone into Ruroni Kenshin (Shinsengumi ring a bell? Okita-kun make you cream? Read on....)
And finally, anyone into watching samurai slumber parties with bumping cats...
...I have found the answer to your prayers!
The film is called GOHATTO (Taboo).
Quite the original title for a film about homosexuality, eh?
Actually, I have been informed that a more accurate translation of the title is "LAW" or "DECREE". The tile of "Taboo" is merely the French title.
It is everything and nothing you'd expect from a Japanese film about the Shinsengumi. Based on a popular Japanese novel by Ryotaro Shiba, the film focuses on a newly recruited member of the Shinsengumi named Kano Sozaburo and his sexual liaisons with various members of the group. It is not so much about homosexuality per se, but about the strict codes which governed the samurai and how they were threatened.
THE PLOT:
At the temple Nishi-Honganji, the Shinsengumi militia is selecting new
recruits. Commander Isami Kondo, (Yoichi Sai) and lieutenant Toshizo Hijikata (Beat
Takeshi) are supervising the recruiting process. Those hoping to be chosen must face off
the best man in the militia, Soji Okita (Shinji Takeda). Out of all the men present, only
two are chosen: Hyozo Tashiro (Tadanobu Asano), a low-level samurai from the Kurume clan
and Sozaburo Kano (Ryuhei Matsuda), a handsome young man whose looks are almost vampiric.
Tashiro is immediately drawn to Kano who has the slight stature of a girl but the lethal
arms of a seasoned swordsman. Lieutenant Hijikata notices these elements as well as the
budding attraction of Tashiro.
Proceed directly to havoc.
Rigid rules keep order among this group as a unifying force. With the acceptance of Sozaburo, the group suddenly finds itself prey to rumors and jealousy. What ensues is typical fare for homosexual storylines. We are bombarded by a lot of vigorous snooping, closed doors, fallacies, speculation and whispering.
Dear God, is there a twist?
Yes, but not the one you'd expect.
The fact that this film attempts to "queer" the cannon is nothing short of remarkable. The Shinsengumi were a very famous band of samurai at the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate. There are few in Japan who do not know of them today. They have been the heroes of many popular novels, movies and TV shows. To apply a homosexual plot (not sub-plot) to this group would be like writing about Wyatt Earp's affair with Doc Holiday. Like Earp, the characters in the novel actually did exist. However, it must be noted that homosexual activity ran rampant among the members of the Shinsengumi. The events of the novel merely highlight one such affair in particular and are probably highly exaggerated.
It may be viewed as something of an anomaly by American standards in that it takes beloved historical figures and focuses solely on the homotextuality of their situation. I have to admire the Japanese for that. America likes to profile already known famed homosexuals like Oscar Wilde. Or the happy go lucky trials of a lovable bunch of boys out looking for Mr. Right. All are attempts to freshen the face of homosexual film offering optimistic storylines instead of the cynical AIDS tragedies or tragic scandals of the past.
What makes GOHATTO different?
The movie links homosexuality to what I believe to be the most profound aesthetic in Japanese ideology: death.
In an interview with Oshima, the director is asked whether the homosexuality theme would shock the Japanese audience. He stated:
"No, I don't believe so."
And don't think for one minute this is because the Japanese are all a sensitive, enlightened, open-minded lot.
"In this film, homosexuality and death are intimately linked and that's what makes it so beautiful."
Homosexuality and death....beautiful????
HMMMMMMM....
Where have we heard that before?
At first glance, the American liberation front side of me ranted that there had better be some deep cultural aesthetic to that statement that I was not getting.
Actually, there was.
The Japanese are obsessed with death when it comes to artistic expression. The national flower, the sakura, dies only a few days after it blooms. This was also symbolic of the samurai whose life was said to be, as the flower, short-lived and glorious. The same can also be said of youthful beauty/innocence, an entity ever-fleeting. These concepts all echo "Mono no aware", a theme prevalent in 13th to 15th century poetry and prose. Originally, it was a sadness in the beauty of the seasons and the recognition of their ephemeral nature.
So things (i.e. homosexuality) are at their most beautiful when they are dying. Not a completely insane idea. After all, sex and death are the two most dynamic forces in human nature.
But is this to be related to the fate of all homosexuals? Is it to be viewed as a notion lovely to hold onto for a short time but never to be made permanent? Shall homosexuality as a concept remain like all folly in the realm of serendipity and wistfulness? Find but don't keep?
Then again, maybe the message is not nearly as deep. The Japanese love their melodrama (of which homosexuality is certainly a catalyst.) Any skeptics should try sitting through a kabuki play. Or a season of St. Seiya. The Japanese also have a stunning myriad of different terms for death. This film would combine their two dramatic passions. The director sums the film's purpose best by saying:
"In the past, no one dared touch the subject of homosexuality whether it was latent or overt. It was censured. In my opinion, one cannot understand the world of the samurai without showing the fundamental homosexual aspect," says Oshima.
"Historically, the samurai viewed homosexuality as the purest expression of manly love, but the arrival of Kano as alien and beautiful as the bishounen tradition demands, sows the seed of anxiety as well as the seeds of lust," says Stephen.
As for the the film's characters, they seem to rationalize the homosexuality
as passion misdirected. The same energy the men spend towards each other should be
directed towards the war. As Okita Soji airily states, "Men are with men. It's only
natural."
However, the chaos has gotten far too out of control. Sozaburo must be eliminated not because the samurai feel he is morally corrupt but because of the havoc his beauty causes among the men.
So is Sozaburo just an innocent?
The character of Sozaburo acts more as a presence than an actual character. Like the ravishing protagonist of VELVET GOLDMINE, the major events in the movie revolve around him but he does not interact very directly with them. He glides through the film like a beautiful ghost while everything falls apart in his wake. To quote Susan, admin. of Aestheticism:
"I believe his [Oshima's] meaning is that despite the fact that Soza didn't actually break any of the Shinsengumi laws, because of his beauty--he may end up enticing other members of Shinsengumi to break one of the laws. So Soza's murdered to keep a balance in the law."
In an excerpt from his article, BOY, Chuck Stephens sheds some clarity on the subject of Soza's character:
"Japan has a cultural obsession with sexually ambivalent, and frequently murderous, beautiful boys. Homosexual or not, bishounen are treated in a similar way to vampires and creatures from outer space (Ziggy Stardust, anyone?) Outcasts all, they are the pure, eternally young victims of adult corruption."
Ryuhei Matsuda is exactly what his role requires: a classically beautiful youth. He's the package deal: perfectly drawn lips, slender build, porcelain skin, and piercing eyes. He looks like a Japanese doll. Or a breathing anime character. I am sure he will end up in many a Japanese Tiger Beat/BOP magazine before starting his eventual idol musical career.
Shinji Takeda portrays a wonderfully cheery Okita Soji. Save for Sozaburo, he is the youngest member of the Shinsengumi. True to the Ruroni Kenshin piece of ass who got maybe 12 seconds of air time, he is always smiling and upbeat. Sure his country is dying around him and sure he's toting around a fatal case of TB, but that doesn't mean he can't face life with a smile and a song.
One almost wants to hit him for being so fucking happy in a melodrama.
Other notable pieces of ass, I mean performances are Tadanobu Asano as the lower-class samurai Hyozo Tashiro, also accepted by the Shinsengumi and hopelessly attracted to Sozaburo. His character may be summed up as one tragically scorned piece of ass. Holy yaoi dounjinshi meat.
Much of the film's viewpoint is seen from Beat Takeshi's character, Hijikata, who is in constant inner turmoil over Sozaburo. If this actor is supposed to be a comedian in Japan, his performance as the reserved and severe Hijikata had me totally fooled.
The film is, of course, appropriately devoid of female characters. The one female I do remember had no name and she was a wacky old proprietress of an inn during one of the raid scenes. Her Kyoto accent killed me. I think she deserved an Osuka (Oscar) just for being the one memorable woman in the film!
She had a glorious 20-second performance!
What of the film itself?
It was presented in true soap opera style. Right down to the rather insipid soundtrack by Ryuichi Sakamoto. I can't describe it in any other way but cheesy. A couple of trite, melancholy piano notes at a moment of breath-halting importance. Some weird sound effects digitally mixed with a toneless melody. Not that I'm looking for show-stopping musical numbers but silence would have been more preferable to some of the music.
The facts of the film are not hand-fed to you. In fact, the truth is about as hard to pin down as a bar of wet soap (even harder to pin with sloppy Japanese). Just when you think you've got a grasp of the meaning, you watch the movie again and the meaning changes. Nothing is made totally clear.
Japanese comprehension or not, Oshima is a bleeding genius.
Yeah, the film would have been better if I could hold onto every word but it was very well done. (I'm a first-class honky with Japanese 101) For those with limited Jap comprehension, I can affirm the movie is at least beautiful eye candy. The cinematography was awesome, making the best of Kyoto's classic landscape. The fight scenes were good (except Japanese directors seem to think that people have 20 gallons of blood in them all kept under pressure), the acting was as good as I could determine by my ignorant gaijin standards and the boy sex?
Let's just say that for all the talk, there were surprisingly few actual sex
scenes. In fact, the only scene in which Sozaburo actually ate tatami face down in the
futon was quite brief and with a really nasty looking extortionist samurai dude.
It was anything but passionate.
One notable scene was where they tried to get Sozaburo interested in women so another member takes him to a brothel. Once there, an elaborately clad Kyoto whore is made to sashay primly before him.
No wonder he turns up his delicate samurai nose! That woman's idea of flirtation was horrifying.
If I were an 18 year old boy and I saw that creature of excessive silk and face paint lurking steadily forward, I'd be running away screaming.
But then again, I am not Japanese.
It is also interesting to note Sozaburo's murderous qualities, true to the bishounen ideal. At one point, he carries out an execution and slices a man's head off.
(By the way, I find it hilarious that the samurai had to scream out "GOMEN!" ("Sorry!") right before they executed someone. What's the poor condemned fuck supposed to say??? "Oh don't worry, it's okay!" HAHAHAHA!)
One of the elder samurai watching the execution remarks "He has courage." However, Hijikata disagrees, saying he feels something quite different.
Hmmm....could it be malice, perchance?
And when another samurai asks Sozaburo why, as a rich man's son, he joined the Shinsengumi, Sozaburo says: "For the right to kill."
Not for fame, not for the shogun, not for any credo. He just wants to kill.
If I were an effeminate homosexual in Japan back in the day, I think I might want to just kill a few people too.
Go here for a summary of the movie and pictures (the page has an English subpage)