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Japan, France, United Kingdom · 1999
1h 40m
Director Nagisa Ōshima
Starring Takeshi Kitano, Ryuhei Matsuda, Tadanobu Asano, Yôichi Sai
Genre Drama, History, Thriller
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Set during Japan's Shogun era, "Taboo" centers around a training compound for the Shinsen-gumi, a Shogunate militia notorious for both their ruthless violence and homosexuality. When the young, strikingly handsome Kano Sozaburo joins this elite samurai unit, his presence unleashes tensions among his fellow swordsmen—including his superior Hijikata Toshizo—as they find themselves competing for his affections.
We hate to say it, but we can't find anywhere to view this film.
Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt
The movie's most striking assets are its lyrical visual style, which forms a silky counterpoint to the plot's turbulent emotions, and Beat Takeshi's smooth and expressive performance as a senior warrior.
Above all, Oshima has fashioned a tale of men among men that feels familiar at first, then moves boldly into more enigmatic terrain.
An action film at once baroque and austere, hypnotic and opaque.
Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas
It takes a director with exceptional talent, skill and experience to explore ambiguity in all aspects of human nature and behavior, and Oshima has created a film of resilient, downright tensile strength that ends on a satisfyingly ironic note.
The intriguing subject, unfortunately, collapses under too many talky scenes of the samurai discussing their feelings and gossiping about who loves whom.
Austin Chronicle by Marrit Ingman
Bizarre, even darkly comic at times. But it's also elegant and mannered.
Philadelphia Inquirer by Steven Rea
Ripe with homoeroticism, but also with what the director — who made the film after recovering from a stroke a few years back — calls "the scent of murder."
Walks the line between conviction and camp with a not entirely steady step.
San Francisco Chronicle by Wesley Morris
A further, captivating extension of Oshima's marriage of the oblique and the erotic.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer by William Arnold
It's hard to figure exactly what the point of this movie is -- except maybe to expose the myth of samurai machismo.
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