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Taboo (Gohatto)
New Yorker Films


9.5

based on 17 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 14 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: Not rated

Starring Takeshi Kitano, Ryuhei Matsuda, Shinji Takeda, and Tadanobu Asano

Set in 1865 in a Kyoto samurai fortress, this movie explores the homosexual attraction between young recruits and their superiors.

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Nagisa Oshima Ryotaro Shiba (novellas)
DIRECTED BY:	Nagisa Oshima
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: August 20, 2002 Video: August 20, 2002 Theatrical: October 6, 2000
RUNNING TIME:	100 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	France / Japan / UK
LANGUAGE(S):	Japanese (with English subtitles)

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

San Francisco Chronicle Wesley Morris

A further, captivating extension of Oshima's marriage of the oblique and the erotic.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

It takes a director with exceptional talent, skill and experience to explore ambiguity in all aspects of human nature and behavior, and Oshima has created a film of resilient, downright tensile strength that ends on a satisfyingly ironic note.

LA Weekly F. X. Feeney

Above all, Oshima has fashioned a tale of men among men that feels familiar at first, then moves boldly into more enigmatic terrain.

Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson

Emblematic of the man's (Oshima) career: ironic, ambiguous, sublime.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Illustrates the underlying fear that when energies that should be directed toward warfare are diverted into passion, unity is impossible.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

An action film at once baroque and austere, hypnotic and opaque.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Ripe with homoeroticism, but also with what the director — who made the film after recovering from a stroke a few years back — calls "the scent of murder."

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The movie's most striking assets are its lyrical visual style, which forms a silky counterpoint to the plot's turbulent emotions, and Beat Takeshi's smooth and expressive performance as a senior warrior.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

It's hard to figure exactly what the point of this movie is -- except maybe to expose the myth of samurai machismo.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

It's actually the surprisingly compelling plot and the often hilarious dialogue that keep you watching this tale of passion and murder in a Samurai militia unit - not the beautiful scenery or the elegant color palette.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Impressionistic and open to interpretation, which is a kind way of saying that there's no way to figure out the ending.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Oshima, directing his first film in 14 years, has found an actor with the physical attributes to play the character and seems content to leave it at that; his camera regards Sozaburo as an object of beauty but hardly seems to engage him.

TV Guide Ken Fox

A well-crafted potboiler from start to finish.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Walks the line between conviction and camp with a not entirely steady step.

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

Bizarre, even darkly comic at times. But it's also elegant and mannered.

Boston Globe Loren King

The intriguing subject, unfortunately, collapses under too many talky scenes of the samurai discussing their feelings and gossiping about who loves whom.

Film.com Jared Rapfogel

A difficult, ambiguous film.

The average user rating for this movie is 9.5 (out of 10) based on 14 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Paul B. gave it a10:
Gorgeous cinematography and hypnotic sound design. Structurally perfect in its controlled ambiguity. If you liked this film, you should also check out Claire Denis' "Beau Travail."

First gave it a10:
Capt Okita is more important to the plot than I first realized. The key to many seemingly unconnected details is in the "dream" sequence, in which Hijikawa reflects on the story "A Vow Between Two Men," recounted by Okita (Soji). Three different interpretations: Hijikawa's personal desires, what will happen in reality, his insight into Kano's desires. The conversation between Okita and Hijikawa as they wait to observe Kano kill Tashiro, has the same surprising directness as in H's relationship to Cmdr Kondo. So many parallels in this film! So many levels of meaning! No wonder it confounds people unaccustomed to subtitled films: they miss the more interesting points and symbolism.

Yoon C. gave it a 9:
Oshima's film explores the tension between the highly aesthetisized culture of Japan(yin) and the brutal martial code of the warrior(yang). The central character, the androgynous samurai--deadly and elegant--, represents and triggers the many degrees of suppressed and twisted emotions in the psyche of Japanese culture which perhaps poeticized violence more than any other culture. At times, a study of tribal pagan mentality, and at other times finely calligraphied visual haikus, this is a tour-de-force, perhaps Oshima's greatest film since Merry X-mas Mr Lawrence.

Shawn gave it a 10:
I would rate this as one of THE best films I've seen. Although a little perplexing at the end, after much thought (I pondered the ins and outs for an extensive time), I think I've come to some better understanding about the story. Of course, the mere visual representaton of homosexuality in mid 19th C. Japan is praiseworthy. Great depth and insight on what is likely to be unknown.

Felicia S. gave it a 10:
I just love it when Sozaburo gets f..ked. He's just laying there like a ragdoll, taking it... Now that's art! Oh, and I'm a 16 years old grrrl from Sweden by the way...

David gave it a 9:
Graphically charming, rich scenes and wonderfully choreographed fighting scenes, make this movie superb. The ending has 2 possibilities I have yet to figure out.

Snowy_White gave it a 10:
Keeps you wondering...

Taboo (Gohatto) New Yorker Films

Taboo (Gohatto)
New Yorker Films