Kokuho Review – Cain-and-Abel was a young actor’s favorite | Video

LThe intimate and energetic Ee Sang-il (whose title means “treasure of the world”) was a box office smash in Japan, winning many festival awards and an Oscar nomination. It is a powerful Cain and Abel drama that spans fifty years, located in the rarefied realm of kabuki theater where some of the most beloved actors are onnagatamen who have mastered the tradition of playing women in the old roles of kabuki, a convention that began in Japan in the 1700s to ban women from the stage, rather than in England 100 years ago. It’s an unintentional joke about a male-dominated film that’s so passionate and interesting that real women are so important.

The story begins in a very interesting way, with a situation that could have been possible in a kabuki drama. In the 1960s in Nagasaki, a yakuza gangster is holding an event to show off his fame; has provided kabuki entertainment for his guests, and this is his homage to Japanese high culture which he has allowed his young son Kikuo to act as onnagata. Kikuo’s performance surprises a famous kabuki actor named Hanjiro, played by Ken Watanabe. But the scene is suddenly attacked by a gang, the yakuza are killed, and Hanjiro offers to take Chikiku and train him as a soldier. onnagata in his kabuki company, along with his own son Shunsuke.

Kikuo (played as an adult by Ryô Yoshizawa) and Shunsuke (Ryûsei Yokohama) are famous and close like brothers, but their bond of friendship is tested to destruction when Hanjiro makes the yakuza-son lead his lover and even his successor. Shunsuke angrily leaves, leaving with Kikuo’s girlfriend, Harue (Mitsuki Takahata); in his absence, Kikuo becomes mercilessly ambitious, even joking about making a pact with Satan for greater gain, much to the chagrin of the daughter he had with his geisha master and mercilessly refuses to accept. He also has an abusive relationship with the daughter of one of the company’s sponsors. But Shunsuke bids his time to return.

The action is well combined with kabuki performances, whose themes and stories are summarized in chyron subtitles. Perhaps the most important of these is Sagi Musume or Heron Maiden, about a cow who falls in love with a man who transforms into a woman and dances until she dies. The onnagata actresses also transform themselves into women, perhaps yearning for sensuality, dignity and beauty that they cannot achieve as men.

One reading of this film – a white reading, perhaps – will be to see it as a strange story, the problems related to men and women; while Kikuo is reduced to performing in tea shops and restaurants, he is sexually assaulted by a highly motivated criminal who can’t believe a man is dressed like this, and may be affected by Kikuo in ways he won’t admit. Perhaps there is an element of sexism and transgression in kabuki running very deep beneath the surface. But this can reduce. The emphasis is on discipline and dedication in the service of art, a self-love of work where the transformation of pain into beauty is the whole point.