Films set in the kabuki world are few, understandably so since the challenge of getting it right is so great. Daniel Schmid's "The Written Face" (1995) and Yukiko Takayama’s “The Maid of Dojoji Temple” (2004) managed it by casting real-life onnagata, players of female roles in all-male kabuki, as leads: Bando Tamasaburo V in the former film, Nakamura Fukusuke VIII in the latter.
Based on Shuichi Yoshida’s two-part novel, Lee Sang-il’s monumentally ambitious and visually sumptuous “Kokuho” takes another approach, with two young non-kabuki actors playing rivals-slash-friends in Kamigata kabuki, which once flourished in the Kansai region that encompasses Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe.
The film, which was made with kabuki star Nakamura Ganjiro IV as adviser, brilliantly solves the authenticity problem, at least to the eyes of this non-expert. Stars Ryo Yoshizawa and Ryusei Yokohama spent months training to deliver stage performances that, captured by cinematographer Sofian El Fani’s fluid and insinuating camerawork, are both convincing as kabuki and arresting as drama.
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