Go (2001)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Isao Yukisada

Writers:

Kazuki Kaneshiro (novel)
Kankurô Kudô (screenplay)

Release Date:

20 October 2001 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Teenage Love | Dead Boy | Subway | Stabbed In The Throat | Racism

Awards:

41 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Yôsuke Kubozuka	...	Sugihara
Kou Shibasaki	...	Sakurai Tsubaki
Shinobu Ôtake	...	Michiko (mother of Sugihara)
Tsutomu Yamazaki	...	Hideyoshi (father of Sugihara)
Hirofumi Arai	...	Won-su
Mitsuru Murata	...	Katô
Takato Hosoyamada	...	Jeong-il
Min Kim	...	Naomi
Gye-nam Myeong	...	Staff member of South Korean embassy
Tarô Yamamoto	...	Tawake
Ren Ôsugi	...	Taxi driver
Sansei Shiomi	...	Mr. Kim
Masato Hagiwara	...	Policeman
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Anri Ban	...	Kaori
Ginpuncho	...	Sakurai's mother
Mitsuru Hirata	...	Film star
Atsushi Ida
Hikaru Ijûin
Ryuzo Ishida
Tomoko Ishikawa
Takeshi Kikuchi
Maria Kitazawa
Ryôsuke Koshiba
Ayaka Maeda	...	Girl with Dog
Atsushi Matsuda
Asami Mizukawa	...	Korean in the tube station
Takeshi Nakajima
Gouki Nishimura
Rina Takagi	...	Sakurai's sister
Yôji Tanaka
Kanji Tsuda	...	Henchman of Kato's father
Kôichi Ueda	...	Kato's father

Runtime:

122 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese | Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

Finland:K-15 | South Korea:15 | Germany:16

Company:

Toei Tokyo

Goofs:

Continuity: When the Korean girl at the station grabs the stabbed neck, her hand is already covered in blood.

This is my love story

When I first saw this movie I was kind of turned off by it. It can be kind of confusing the first time around. But as with most good things it gets better with time and familiarity. The movie basically revolves around a Japanese born but fully north Korean teenager who struggles to find his place in society and come to terms with his tough father. As a Japanese-born Korean or "zainichi" he often feels alienated both by Korean and Japanese culture. The movie follows the trials and transformations in his life and his desire to find who he is and where he belongs. I think a lot of people who are the second or third generation of immigrant families will really get this movie. It's like being stuck between two worlds sometimes. But regardless of background people will be able to relate to the story (manic as it is). If you like say fight club, you will probably like this movie. There are quite a bit of action and fight sequences, a lot of introspection, and also romantic elements. The movie tends to segregate these elements to some extent which makes the film seem lop-sided but in the end everything balances nicely. This is probably one of my favourite movies, Japanese or otherwise.