Gohatto [DVD]

I watched this movie some time ago and was fairly baffled. Since then I have learned something about the Shinsengumi, so when I watched it again recently it all made a lot more sense.Some points which might be helpful -• The Shinsengumi was not a training school for samurai; it was a sort of vigilante police force in Kyoto, dedicated to maintaining law and order and supporting the Shogun. See When the Last Sword Is Drawn for a more conventional view of them.• The Ikadaya incident, mentioned briefly, was when the Shinsengumi raided an inn and massacred the Ishin Shishi, the anti-shogunate forces from Choshu meeting there; a bloody, violent event, but it did prevent the Choshu men from carrying out their plan to capture the Emperor and burn down the city of Kyoto!• Apart from Kano and Tashiro the characters are based on actual people, members of the Shinsengumi, who are well known in Japan. They appear in manga stories, a TV series starring young pop singers, and numerous feature films. For a Japanese audience there would be no need to explain who they are and their circumstances. For example, in one scene the Vice-Commander Hijikata (Beat Takeshi’s character) goes to talk to Okita Souji, who is sitting by the lake. He wants to ask him about the swordsmanship of the new recruits, but he starts by asking him, very tenderly, how he is feeling. Okita looks at him without speaking for a few moments, then replies cheerfully that he’s feeling fine. In fact he is slowly dying of tuberculosis, but this is never mentioned; you are expected to know it.• Kano is the only character who wears white. White is the colour of death in Japanese tradition.The ending is baffling. It's meant to be. Don't worry about it.Nothing wrong with the subtitles on my copy, by the way.

This is an intriguing film which rests on a certain mystery, certainly. Towards the end it seems to inhabit the realm of a myth, underlined by some blue lighting and seemingly hallucinatory moments. It brings to a searingly dramatic conclusion a film ostensibly about the Shinsengumi, a police unit in 19th century Japan charged with defending the Emperor and producing warriors in the samurai tradition. The catalyst for the drama is an 18-year-old recruit, Kano, whose beauty gets a number of the men, both his comrades and superiors , in quite a spin. The plot is held at some distance in terms of background action and Japanese politics at the time, but piecing together what is there is part of the challenge. Emotions are likewise held in check and only permitted stylised expression except for the odd instance of blatant sexuality. Many of the younger faces are beautiful, not only Kano; his main lover Tashiro has a real beauty also, and another young man called Okita. Combined with the presence of Takeshi Kitano, the amazing sounds of the language, the formalised settings and Ryuichi Sakamoto's music, the effect is intoxicating indeed, as long as you are prepared to let go of preconceptions about amorous behaviour. And also make allowances for a tradition of behaviour in which violence is the norm. Kano is quite bloodthirsty, it seems, and inaccessible in any sentimental sense, but this flatness - again mythical - is what makes it unique and gives it a strange power. It is one of the key films for showing the beauty of Japanese men, I would say, no doubt reflecting Oshima's own emotional makeup; for this quality alone it is a pure visual poem, shot with a fantastic delicacy is spite of the brutality on display.

I am baffled as to why this film has had negative reviews. The plot is taut,the casting superb, the action sequences faultless and the photography excellent. Much of the films message is visual and the subtitling is more than adequate. Possibly I missed some subtleties because I do not speak fluent Japanese but I am not complaining. Perhaps it is just a case of different strokes...? Good Japanese films can offer refreshingly different and often subtle viewpoints and I would include Gohatto amongst them. I confess I find films with the subject of homosexuality difficult to watch but the subject matter was handled with a great deal of delicacy and insight and I found myself engaged from start to finish. For once the liberal, heterosexual male viewpoint was included.Takesho Kitano is one of my favourite hardmen and his stony Noh face is used to good effect. For my money this man ranks amongst the worlds greats.If you appreciate the Japanese genre, Gohatto will not disgrace your collection.

I bought this film with great anticipation, having seen a clip of the sword fights in the first scene. The photography and the fight co-ordination were so authentic and beautiful. The rest of the script however is amateurish. Except his other works say otherwise, I find absolutely no reason for the hype around the director of this film. The plot is meaningless, the characters remain shallow. Everyone in the film seems deluded. Plotlines are started and killed off without explanation. There is for example the new deputy commander who seems to be plotting something with his bullish atitude, but he suddenly has no part in the film. Is the story about the affair between Kano and Taisho? Taisho barely features in the film! Is Kano gay or not? Does he have a plan or is he just a confused, blood-thirsty teenager? He is playing the group against each other, but with no objective. This is like an incompetent artist, scribbling on canvass and calling it abstract art. Abstract art is done by the untalented, and applauded by the completely bewildered! Don't watch this when you are sober. It makes no sense!

Great acting, cinematography and a small history lesson of 19th century Japan. Worth a night in to view.

Like it a lot !

Brilliant Samurai classic movie showing a different side to Takeshi Kitano than the rabid police detective "Beat" Kitano. But it's the ephebic Matsuda whose beauty dominates. But the ambivalent ending may leave some (including me) floundering somewhat. Beautiful production values. Buy it!

Superb!