One day of a chart of 2024 Hong Kong International
Film Festival screenings that includes information about
which were sold out and which not
Kubi (Japan, 2023)
- Takeshi Kitano (aka Beat Takeshi), director and scriptwriter
- Starring: Takeshi Kitano,Hidetoshi Nishijima, Ryo Kase, Tadanobu Asano, etc.
- Part of the Hong Kong International Film Festival's The Masters program
Back in 2017, I saw online chat and advertising for a Japanese epic centering on the decisive Battle of Sekigahara, which took place in 1600 and pitted the forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu against a coalition of Toyotomi loyalist clans, and eagerly awaited its arrival in Hong Kong cinemas (or, at least, film fests). However, to date, Sekigahara does not appear to have been screened here -- or even gone straight to video. The sense I got was that its subject was considered too Japan-specific for many overseas markets, including Hong Kong (although it did screen at a few North American film fests, including Toronto and Hawaii), so few cineastes outside of the Land of the Rising Sun would be interested in checking it out; this even though its cast included the likes of Koji Yakusho.
Happily this fate has not befallen another movie chronicling another major Japanese historical event -- this one the 1582 Honno-ji Incident. At the very least, Kubi (whose title translates into English as "Heads"; presumably because so many of them are seen getting cut off in the film!) has made it to Hong Kong by way of screenings at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival; thanks, I have a feeling, to its boasting a star studded cast, featuring art house and cult movie favourites, and headed by its director-scriptwriter, Takeshi Kitano.
The character of the future shogun of Japan also appears in Kubi but Tokugawa Ieyasu's just a supporting character -- and one there for comic relief at that! -- in the film that is said to have been some three decades in the making. Rather, far more attention is given to the characters of: the then dominant warlord, Nobunaga Oda (played by Ryu Kase); the warlord nicknamed "the monkey" (because he was said to physically resemble one!) (portrayed by Takeshi Kitano), one of whose (more) capable lieutanants is played by Tadanobu Asano; and another high-ranking vassal, Mitsuhide Akechi (essayed by Hidetoshi Nishijima), who Nobunaga -- who had homosexual tendencies -- physically coveted.
Before anything else: yes, homosexuality features pretty prominently in the film. And it's a historical fact that it was fairly common among samurai. But even though there has been at least one film about it (Gohatto), it seemed that a significant proportion of the audience at the screening I attended were unprepared for it. And it didn't help that the first homosexual scene in Kubi involved violence and seemed to be at least partially played for laughs. (Consequently, cue laughter -- often uneasy in terms of "Should I be laughing?" as opposed to purely homophobic, but uncomfortable and rather strange to hear all the same -- for a number of other homosexual scenes in the film; including ones that I personally thought were not meant to be humorous!)
If Takeshi Kitano being its director didn't already get you anticipating it, Kubi is by no means an ordinary, run-of-the-mill samurai epic. Rather, it has copious amounts of startling violence, satire and what traditionalists might deem to be disrespect of samurai ways and actual historical personalities -- with some of the biggest names in Japanese history depicted acting outrageously and even actually dishonorably as they scheme against one another in their bids to gain power or, sometimes, just remain alive!
Your mileage might vary but I found Kubi to be enthralling and entertaining. And even while there definitely were scenes that made me wince and gasp in shock, there also ones that made me laugh (as intended, I think!) and still others that I enjoyed for the sheer cinematic nature of it all. At the very least, there most definitely is a sense that a big budget was assembled and lavished on this cinematic work; and used in ways that are masterful -- as one might expect from Takeshi Kitano who, by the way, had not planned to appear in the movie and only did so after "the film’s producers told him it would be harder to market overseas if he didn’t also appear"!
My rating for this film: 8.5
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