Nate At The Movies

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.

Another Saturday, another extended drive to catch a film showing nowhere near me. Last week it was Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, and today it was Kokuho, which I knew literally nothing about going in. Just before the movie started, I saw that it had a 3-hour runtime, which made me only a little nervous, and while I definitely felt that runtime, everything that unfolded during it was very interesting.

Kokuho became the next of a long line of movies that I’ve seen about the price of pursuing greatness in the arts—a line including Whiplash and Black Swan—and while I liked the latter movies more, Kokuho did have them beat in a few places. Getting introduced to the world of kabuki was a treat, and though it wasn’t an art form I connected with all that much, I was able to really appreciate its tradition and beauty. Kokuho was easily the prettiest of the three movies I’ve mentioned in this category, with the kabuki performances in particular constantly stunning me. If this movie was a bit better known before Oscars season, I bet it could’ve picked up a cinematography nomination next to its Makeup and Hairstyling one, which it fully deserves.

The friendship and rivalry between Kikuo and Shunsuke was the beating heart of the movie, and I liked how their relationship was chronicled over nearly half a century. I did have a bit of trouble telling them apart early on (which is a bit embarrassing) and that got me confused a couple of times, but I eventually locked in and really ate up their relationship. The first hour and a half or so unfolded at a nice pace, but I felt like the back half was really slow and wasn’t adding substance to the social/emotional bank as it was adding to the physical, be it deaths or ailments, and that just wasn’t as interesting to me. The ending was quite the showstopper, though, and I appreciated throughout that the performances had room to breathe; I liked seeing full sequences in these shows rather than just snippets.

I feel like I’ve seen a lot of movies lately about chasing dreams and the personal sacrifices one has to make to achieve those dreams, and Kokuho certainly has its place among them. Easily one of the prettiest iterations of this, Kokuho was intensely relational, beautiful, and long, and while Frankenstein will probably take home the Oscar, I’m glad that award nominations like these introduce me to stories that I otherwise wouldn’t have checked out, let alone known existed. I’ll also take ten more of these types of movies, while we’re at it—I’m open to any art form!