Gohatto

Taboo
File:Gohatto Poster.jpg
Directed by	Nagisa Oshima
Written by	Nagisa Oshima Ryotaro Shiba
Produced by	Masayuki Motomochi
Starring	Ryuhei Matsuda Takeshi Kitano Tadanobu Asano
Cinematography	Toyomichi Kurita
Edited by	Tomoyo Oshima
Music by	Ryuichi Sakamoto
Distributed by	Shochiku New Yorker Films (USA)
Release dates	December 18, 1999 (Japan) May 17, 2000 (France)
Running time	100 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Taboo or Gohatto (御法度, released in several English-speaking territories under its Japanese title) is a 1999 Japanese film directed by Nagisa Oshima. It is an example of the jidaigeki genre, and shows life in a samurai training school during the bakumatsu period, the end of the samurai era in the mid-19th century, specifically concentrating on the issue of homosexuality in the shudō tradition in the partially closed environment.

Plot

At the start of the movie, the young and handsome Kanō Sōzaburō (Ryuhei Matsuda) is admitted to the Shinsengumi, an elite samurai police group led by Kondō Isami (Yoichi Sai) that seeks to defend the 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 Tomīzu as Inspector Yamazaki Susumu
• Masato Ibu as Military Advisor Itō Koshitarō
• Jirō Sakagami as Inoue Genzaburō

Trivia

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, who appears as Kanō Sōzaburō, was sixteen years old.

It was Nagisa Oshima's final film.

Awards

• 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: Nagisa Oshima
  • Best Film: Nagisa Oshima
  • Best New Actor: Ryuhei Matsuda
  • Best Supporting Actor: Shinji Takeda
• Ryūhei Matsuda won the 2000 Japan Academy Prize for Newcomer of the Year, the film was nominated in nine other categories.
• Tadanobu Asano won the Best Supporting Actor category at the 2000 Hochi Film Awards.
• Ryūhei Matsuda won the Best New Actor category of the 2001 Kinema Junpo Awards.
• Ryūhei Matsuda won the 2001 Yokohama Film Festival prize for Best New Talent.

See also

• List of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender-related films by storyline

Notes

• Thompson, Nathaniel (2006) [2002]. DVD Delirium: The International Guide to Weird and Wonderful Films on DVD; Volume 1 Redux. Godalming, England: FAB Press. pp. 331–332. ISBN 1-903254-39-6.

External links

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