Taboo (1999)

The new member of a samurai militia unit causes disruption as several of his colleagues fall in love with him, threatening to disturb the rigid code of their squad.

Director:

Nagisa Ôshima

Writers:

Ryôtarô Shiba (novel), Nagisa Ôshima (screenplay)

Stars:

Takeshi Kitano, Ryûhei Matsuda, Shinji Takeda

10 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Takeshi Kitano	...	Captain Toshizo Hijikata (as 'Beat' Takeshi)
Ryûhei Matsuda	...	Samurai Sozaburo Kano
Shinji Takeda	...	Lieutenant Soji Okita
Tadanobu Asano	...	Samurai Hyozo Tashiro
Yôichi Sai	...	Commander Isami Kondo
Jirô Sakagami	...	Lieutenant Genzaburo Inoue
Kôji Matoba	...	Samurai Heibei Sugano
Masa Tommies	...	Inspector Jo Yamazaki
Masatô Ibu	...	Officer Koshitaro Ito
Zakoba Katsura	...	Wachigaiya
Tomorô Taguchi	...	Samurai Tojiro Yuzawa
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chikako Aoyama
Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Daisuke Iijima
Yôichi Iijima

Storyline

Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering around a handsome young samurai named Sozaburo Kano. The school's stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path.

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Plot Keywords:

19th century | samurai | japan | rivalry | prostitute | 

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Genres:

Drama | History | Thriller

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Official Site (French) Official site, Shochiku Inc. - Japanese(full features), English(synopsis only)

Country:

Japan France UK

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

18 December 1999 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Taboo

Filming Locations:

Kyoto, Japan

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,947, 8 October 2000

Gross USA:

$114,425

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$128,374

Company Credits

Production Co:

Oshima Productions, Shochiku, Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: The Wedding Planner/Amy/Sugar & Spice/Shadow of the Vampire/Taboo (2001)

User Reviews

He's the bomb. Literally, almost.

Some people have a sexual magnetism so intense that it's scary

for everyone--gay, straight and disinterested--to be around them.

It's because any mature person can sense that a huge and

destructive power has been placed in the hands of someone not

responsible enough to wield it--and that can be pretty much

anyone so cursed/blessed. You feel as if a small, mercurial child

has his fingers on a hydrogen bomb. These are the most attractive

and the most frightening people in the world.

Nagisa Oshima's TABOO is a spellbinding quasi-thriller in which

every scene squirms with a sexual tension that's almost

unbearable. As in MERRY CHRISTMAS MR. LAWRENCE, the tension between Japanese militarist face-saving and an

underlying homoeroticism sizzles to the boiling point.

Oshima has an understated gift for intensifying everything. The

simplest closeups have a charged, my-horniness-is-giving-me-a-migraine sizzle. TABOO resembles

the sixties British Z-movie STATION SIX SAHARA, in which Carroll

Baker enters a desert outpost of military men and causes libidos

to go bananas. Except that here, Oshima diagrams the psychology

as clearly as Kubrick might. TABOO does not perhaps have the

human depth to be a masterpiece, but it is a reminder that Oshima

is the cinema's reigning poet of the war between control and

uncontrol.