Gohatto

Gohatto
Gohatto (御法度)
Directed by	Nagisa Oshima
Produced by	Masayuki Motomochi
Written by	Nagisa Oshima
Based on	Shinsengumi Keppūroku by Ryōtarō Shiba
Starring	Ryuhei Matsuda Takeshi Kitano Tadanobu Asano
Music by	Ryuichi Sakamoto
Cinematography	Toyomichi Kurita
Edited by	Tomoyo Oshima
Distributed by	Shochiku New Yorker Films (USA)
Release dates	December 18, 1999 (1999-12-18)
Running time	100 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Gohatto (御法度) or Taboo is a 1999 Japanese film directed by Nagisa Oshima. It is about homosexuality in the Shinsengumi during the bakumatsu period, the end of the samurai era in the mid-19th century.

Plot

At the start of the movie, the young and handsome Kanō Sōzaburō (Ryuhei Matsuda) is admitted to the Shinsengumi, an elite samurai group led by Kondō Isami (Yoichi Sai) that seeks to defend the Tokugawa shogunate against reformist forces. He is a very skilled swordsman, but it is his appearance that makes many of the others in the (strictly male) group, both students and superiors, attracted to him, creating tension within the group of people vying for Kanō's affections.

Cast

• Takeshi Kitano as Vice-Commander Hijikata Toshizō
• Ryuhei Matsuda as Kanō Sōzaburō
• Shinji Takeda as Captain Okita Sōji
• Tadanobu Asano as Hyōzō Tashiro
• Yoichi Sai as Commander Kondō Isami
• Koji Matoba as Sugano Heibei
• Masa Tomiizu as Inspector Yamazaki Susumu
• Masato Ibu as Military Advisor Itō Koshitarō
• Jirō Sakagami as Inoue Genzaburō
• Yoshiaki Fujiwara as Samurai
• Tomorowo Taguchi as Samurai Tojiro Yuzawa
• Kei Sato as Narrator (voice)

Production

The original title of the film, Gohatto, is an old-fashioned term that can be translated as "against the law". Nowadays, "gohatto" can be translated as "strictly forbidden" or "taboo" ("tabu").

During the filming of Taboo, actor Ryuhei Matsuda was sixteen years old.

It was Nagisa Oshima's final film.

Reception

Roger Ebert said of the film ""Taboo" is not an entirely successful film, but it isn't boring." Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian said "A film which for some will be dismayingly impenetrable, but it is unmistakably the work of a master film-maker and a work of enormous strangeness and charm." The film currently has a rating of 67% "fresh" on review aggregation site rotten tomatoes.

The film was a financial success in Japan grossing ¥1.01 billion becoming one of the highest grossing films of the year. The film was also given a limited theatrical release in North America where it gross $114,425.

Accolades

It was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, Dancer in the Dark won.

It won four awards at the 2000 Blue Ribbon Awards, Best Director for Nagisa Oshima, Best Film, Best New Actor for Ryuhei Matsuda, and Best Supporting Actor for Shinji Takeda.

Ryuhei Matsuda won the 2000 Japan Academy Prize for Newcomer of the Year, the film was nominated in nine other categories. He also won the Best New Actor category of the 2001 Kinema Junpo Awards, and the 2001 Yokohama Film Festival prize for Best New Talent.

Tadanobu Asano won the Best Supporting Actor category at the 2000 Hochi Film Awards.

External links

• Gohatto at IMDb
• Taboo at AllMovie
• Gohatto at the Japanese Movie Database (Japanese)