yakuza – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

KOKUHO – Review by Diane Carson

February 17, 2026 Diane Carson japanese films, kabuki, Ken Watanabe, Kokuho, Marihiko Hara, Oscar nominee, Ryo Yoshizawa, Sang-il Lee, Satoko Okudera, Shuichi Yoshida, Sofian El Fani, yakuza

Of the artists the Japanese most revere, Kabuki actors rank high on the list. This knowledge informs and underscores the heightened personal and profound cultural crises in director Lee Sang-il’s Kokuho, translated as Living National Treasure, (Ningen Kokuho), referring both to Kabuki theater and Kabuki masters. As prescribed by the custom of honoring direct bloodline legacy, a Kabuki actor bequeaths his exalted position to his heir. That entitled person is Shunsuke Ōgaki, son of celebrated Kabuki actor Hanai Hanjiro II. However, after witnessing the violent yakuza murder of Kikuo Tachibana’s father by a rival gang and later observing a magnificent onnagata performance (a male playing a female role) by Kikuo, Hanjiro II adopts Kikuo who proves to be a disciplined, devoted Kabuki student. Talent will oppose and contest tradition.

Reviews

KOKUHO – Review by Sarah Ward

December 16, 2025December 19, 2025 Sarah Ward japanese films, kabuki, Kokuho, Marihiko Hara, Oscar nominee, Ryo Yoshizawa, Sang-il Lee, Satoko Okudera, Shuichi Yoshida, Sofian El Fani, yakuza

A captivating, all-consuming, resplendent and affecting drama convincingly adapted from Shuichi Yoshida’s bestselling novel of the same name — director Sang-il Lee’s third stint drawing from the author’s words following 2010’s Villain and 2016’s Rage — Kokuho charts Kikuo’s career across half a century. Taken from the Japanese term for living national treasures, the film’s title looms as a promise, although the picture’s protagonist isn’t its only dedicated kabuki talent. That success extracts a cost, and that it’s often built on shrouding much that’s personal, mightn’t be a new revelation; however, Lee and screenwriter Satoko Okudera understand that anyone navigating a familiar plight isn’t merely caught in a copy, just as any actor, kabuki or otherwise, taking on a recognisable role isn’t simply mimicking their predecessors.

Reviews

TOKYO VICE – Review by Diane Carson

May 24, 2022May 28, 2022 Diane Carson Ansel Elgort, hbo max, Jake Adelstein, Ken Watanabe, series, Tokyo Vice, yakuza

Tokyo Vice follows a journalist probing Japan’s yakuza. A bonus of watching a series based on real events set in a foreign country is the immersion in that culture, the opportunity to learn customs while being entertained. This holds true for the HBO series Tokyo Vice based on American Jake Adelstein’s 2009 memoir of his journalistic days on the crime beat at the fictional, daily Meicho Shimbun newspaper.