• 御法度 (Gohatto)

1/27/21 (Tues)

Oshima Nagisa’s fictional 1999 film conjures up a story of nanshoku (male-on-male sex) in the famed Shinsengumi samurai corps in 1865, just three years before the collapse of the shogunate. A certain amount of fooling around can be expected among samurai given the not-unknown phenomenon throughout Japanese history of male-on-male sex (not exactly homosexuality) as documented in novels, popular Kabuki plays and shunga prints. Within the Shinsengumi, at least as portrayed here, boy love was looked down upon not because of morals but from concerns over discipline and was basically ignored if held in check. The film is also known in English as Taboo, but something like Forbidden would be more accurate; gohatto literally means “against the law” or in this case “against the samurai code”. Putting historical figures like Hijikata Toshizo and Kondo Isami in this context seems unfair to their memories, but I guess that’s Hollywood (well, the Japanese equivalent).

Two (fictional) recruits are selected to join the group for their sword skills, the masculine Tashiro Hyozo (Asano Tadanobu) and the androgynous Kano Sozaburo (Matsuda Ryuhei). Kano speaks little, maintains a vacant look, dresses in white and keeps his hair in a boyish bang, refusing to get the adult chonmage topknot and thus accenting his youth. He proves alluring to the horny samurai, several of whom make a move on him, while others, Hijikata (Beat Takeshi) in particular, remain aloof but view him with strong interest. He is very much aware of his allure and is not shy about making use of it, but he has strange tastes: while he turns away the handsome Tashiro (threatening him with a knife), he gives in emotionlessly to an older samurai even as he gets buggered, and tries, albeit unsuccessfully, to work his charm on another who has been charged with getting him laid with a woman. He is idealized in one scene taken straight from Mizoguchi’s rendering of the ghost story collection Tales of Ugetsu, which is referenced in the script. A number of unexplained deaths follow in his wake, which are first attributed to a jealous Tashiro. The truth proves different in a shocking ending. Hijikata, disgusted at the end, goes to a cherry tree, a symbol of youth, and cuts off a branch, while Okita Soji (Takeda Shinji) goes back to the site of the preceding duel to finish off the job.

The film has the feel of a ghost story. The male-on-male hijinks are exaggerated, but Kano’s mystery casts a spell even on the straight guys that perhaps goes beyond sex. Only Okita is resistant: he reads gay-themed stories like Ugetsu just for the writing style, he says (like reading Playboy for the interviews), and claims to hate both the two new recruits. I suppose there’s one in every group.

The presentation is rather conventional by Oshima standards, with a near-absence of overt sex (other than the passionless scene with the older samurai) and a few mild swordfights. It is opaque in meaning. Kano is obviously being equated with some sort of angel of death, including references to sneaky foxes (clever shape-shifting creatures in Japanese lore) and a ghost story from Ugetsu. He dispassionately cuts off the head of an accused killer despite doubts over the charges and takes it back to the boss. In the final battle, he does not hesitate to do what it takes to prevail even as Tashiro lets up on him. One reviewer noted that he asks for forgiveness prior to both executions, but that’s clearly a matter of form rather than a sincere feeling.

Still, whatever the film is trying to say is said in great style. The cast was excellent, especially Asano (Silence) in a typically strong performance and Matsuda in an interesting turn as the enigmatic Kano. An oddball look at a particular aspect of samurai life.