Review | Kokuho movie review: Ryo Yoshizawa stuns in mesmerising epic on Japan’s kabuki theatre

Spanning five decades in the life of a celebrated onnagata – a male performer who specialises in female roles – the film chronicles the endless dedication and heart-wrenching sacrifices required to reach the pinnacle of this bewitching art form, and the toll it takes on the individual.

Earlier this year, Kokuho became the first live-action Japanese film in more than two decades to surpass 10 billion yen (US$65 million) at the box office.

Adapted from Shuichi Yoshida’s 2018 novel, Kokuho – literally translated as “National Treasure” – opens in Nagasaki, circa 1964, with the brutal gangland slaying of a yakuza boss and his family.

The sole survivor is his 15-year-old son, Kikou (played in these early sequences by Soya Kurokawa), who is taken in by a celebrated kabuki performer (Ken Watanabe) and raised alongside his own son, Shunsuke (Keitatsu Koshiyama as a teenager, Ryusei Yokohama as an adult).