• Hush (ハッシュ)

8/28/26 (Fri)

 (Looking for hair on their bellies)

This is the 25th anniversary of writer/director Hashiguchi Ryosuke’s seminal gay film, which I haven’t seen since it came out. I remember little more than that I enjoyed it, but I thought of it when I saw one of the leads, Takahashi Kazuya, in this year’s Samurai Vengeance as a, let’s say, unconventional-looking onnagata. This film was back when he was young and beautiful, as were we all.

The story of two gay men and a woman who wants a baby sounded like a setup for a typical romcom, but the film takes an unexpected turn into more profound territory. Naoya, a pet shop worker, is openly gay but has problems keeping men beyond one night. Then he meets Katsuhiro, a taciturn, handsome, closeted worker at a firm that designs film sets (there’s a metaphor in there somewhere), who he ends up living with.

Meanwhile, playgirl Asako discovers that she has a benign ovarian cyst, which the doctor calls a “sex callus”. Noting that she’s had two abortions, he recommends blithely that she simply remove her ovaries since she won’t be needing them. That shocking statement sends her maternal instincts into overdrive. She overhears two customers, Naoya and Katsuhiro, talking in a restaurant and realizes they are gay. When Katsuhiro kindly offers his umbrella to her in the rain, she decides she wants his sperm as well.

The guys are shocked, but Katsuhiro, perhaps dreaming of normality, is not entirely put off by the idea. Naoya, whose family life has left him rather cynical, objects on the grounds that relationships rarely last, stating, “You have to be prepared to go it alone.” Moreover, Katsuhiro’s elder brother and his unhappy wife are adamantly opposed. The wife notes Asako’s drinking, mental health issues and abortions and says she doesn’t want those genes in her family. She tells Asako that a baby is something that happens, not something you choose, and accuses her of being selfish. Asako is not about to take advice from a woman who clings to her arranged marriage simply because it’s the socially proper thing to do. Then there’s Naoya’s mother, who thinks that her son is going to grow breasts and turn into a woman.

More substantial is a female colleague of Katsuhiro with a severe self-image issue who desperately convinces herself that she loves him. Katsuhiro doesn’t have the guts to tell her the real reason that he’s not interested, which only leads her deeper on in her delusion. He remains mum even when she collapses before him in tears. (Naoya dismisses her suicide threats as empty and drags Katsuhiro away, leaving her fate unknown. I had thought Naoya would reveal their relationship to her at that point and thus give her some comfort, which would have been stereotypical but humane. Instead, the director leaves the story hanging, which is nasty and dramatically unsatisfying. He would have done better just to leave the character out of the story completely since she had nothing to do with the main theme.)

Notably none of the characters had particularly positive relations with their fathers, suggesting that their ideas of family were variable. After the bitter clash between the families over Asako’s proposal, she tells the guys sadly, “If only someone had hugged me to death just once when I was little, I don’t think I’d have turned out this way.”

Following the subsequent death of his brother, Katsuhiro finds that his family home has been sold off and torn down, leaving no trace of his past. He touches the dirt emptily, observing only how much smaller the plot of land was than he remembered. His sister-in-law, who was so insistent on preserving the family line, has now deserted with her daughter. So much for family.

Nevertheless, Asako is more determined than ever to have a child and create a family of her own. The film ends on an upbeat note as Asako and the gay couple gather for a home meal. She pulls out two oversized syringes to inject herself with sperm, saying she wants a baby from both guys since “it’s lonely to be an only child.”

The film treats its gay couple like normal people, dealing with their issues without overt dramatics or the usual effeminate portrayal. Their relationship itself is not the issue; it simply provides the framework for an exploration of family. Katsuhiro’s reluctance to open up about his sexuality, a major plot point, is consistent with his general reserved nature. The odd title comes from the old lullaby “Hush Little Baby,” sung here by Bobby McFerrin (working with, of all people, Yo-Yo Ma).

Both Takahashi and former model Tanabe Seiichi were fine as Naoya and Katsuhiko, but it was Kataoka Reiko as Asako who gave the most dynamic performance. She created a believable and sympathetic character from what could have been a stereotypical role. She was the lynchpin of the film, netting several major awards for her performance. Fuji Manami was memorable as well as Naoya’s nutty mother. The director’s repeated long takes give the film a welcome theatrical feel, most prominently in the crucial family meeting. The scenes feel improvised, as if he is just watching the events take place. Very good filmmaking. Hashiguchi’s output has been thin over the years – he didn’t direct another piece after this one for seven years and a total of only five in the quarter century to date. But on the evidence here, he’s a unique talent. Strongly recommended.