Kokuho
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Synopsis
Nagasaki, 1964. After the death of his father, the leader of a yakuza gang, 14-year-old Kikuo is taken under the wing of a famous Kabuki actor. Alongside Shunsuke, the actor’s only son, Kikuo decides to dedicate himself to this traditional form of theatre. Across decades, the two young men grow and evolve together – from acting school to the grandest stages – amid scandals and glory, brotherhood and betrayals, as each pushes to become the greatest living Kabuki master.
Cast
- Ryô Yoshizawa
- Ryûsei Yokohama
- Mitsuki Takahata
- Shinobu Terajima
- Nana Mori
- Takahiro Miura
- Ai Mikami
- Soya Kurokawa
- Keitatsu Koshiyama
- Masatoshi Nagase
Moviegoers are saying
Kokuho delivers a visually stunning 3-hour journey into the world of kabuki theater that captivates with breathtaking performances and exquisite artistry, though audiences find themselves torn between the film's mesmerizing kabuki sequences and its sprawling, unfocused narrative structure. Despite consistent 4/10 ratings, viewers describe falling in love with the film 'in spite of its flaws,' praising the leads' year-and-a-half preparation and comparing it to Black Swan and Farewell My Concubine.
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Summary generated from the text of Atom User reviews
Letterboxd User Reviews
3.8
45.4K
20.3K
15.3K
- Oct 4, 2025
in another life, i would have really liked just doing kabuki and taxes with you
eliFeb 11, 2026Nothing pisses an asian guy more than another asian guy as good as him in his area of expertise. And i think that's beautiful.
Pablo Honey ✨ ₊˚ ☾. ⋅ 💫🌌Sep 9, 2025It’s the kind of film that makes you fall in love with it in spite of its flaws and issues. Even though I only understood about 80 percent of it because of the Kansai dialect, I could still tell the movie was trying too hard to be complex, throwing in scenes and plot…
Jomari Bashin - Jan 21, 2026
I was fortunate enough to catch Kokuho on IMAX for one night only, and what a spectacle this was. It follows a young man from a yakuza background who gets pulled into the world of kabuki theater, rising through decades of intense training, rivalries, and personal sacrifice.…
Edwin 🦦Jan 21, 2026There is beauty here but it only runs skin deep. I found the characterization and cradle-to-the-grave storytelling frustrating. The first half-hour starts off strong. In fact it's so good that I thought this might be an instant classic. Unfortunately the films jumps ahead…
KarlJan 23, 2026restrained, patient, and quietly absorbing, the kind of film that trusts small gestures more than big moments. it’s less about plot than atmosphere and interior states, letting performances and texture do the heavy lifting.
meyi - Aug 13, 2025
For a film focused in such detail on the idea of gender (specifically femininity) as a social construct, it remains disappointingly shallow in its treatment of female characters. The kabuki sequences are exquisite, but the plot rarely reaches beyond a soap opera. NZIFF25…
ProfessorfonzJun 8, 2025A three-hour epic covering 50 years in the career of a (fictional) kabuki actor. The movie starts in 1964, as 15-year-old Kikuo watches his father killed by rival yakuza in a snowy garden and ends in 2014 when that same boy has been officially designated a kokuho, a…
atmartinFeb 19, 2026Yup she's right, watching their perfomance is like we being taken to another world or dimension. It's really beautiful. This make me want to know more about Kabuki. Also props to the actors that can give all their feminime side to this movie, i'm totally impressed, gagged,…
Vin.
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Community 325
Top Reviews
- Wen likedKokuho
You can tell it’s adapted from a novel as it glosses over so much and constantly does time jumps, with a very formal “X Years Later” card, to the point it’s a bit distracting. I don’t LOVE it but it’s definitely still a very well made film with excellent cast and crew. The performances alone are…
belly potato lovedKokuhothis was so pretty, i cried 2 times in the cinema. the cinematography, acting, actors and everything was perfect. couldnt get over kikuo's performance at the end. while i wouldve liked more on the relationship btwn shunsuke and kikuo, i think the whole movie was really beautiful
Parkmyuu lovedKokuho1.สวยงามทั้งในเรื่องของบท ดนตรี และศิลปะคาบูกิของญี่ปุ่น 2.ตัวละครทำให้เรารู้สึกว่านี่ไม่ใช่บทละคร แต่คือคนธรรมดาแบบเรา ที่ไม่ได้ร้ายหรือดีไปทั้งหมด ก็มีหลายๆด้านเหมือนคนทั่วไป 3.เหมือนนั่งรถไฟเหาะ ที่ทำให้คาดเดายากถึงจุดพีคแต่ละจุด
- Mansi likedKokuho
A bit slow-paced but still it was beautiful and calm, liked it
Atom Users Reviews
Reviews
- ABAaron BatresMPMichael PhungVMValentina Moser
- MHMargaret HoangDPDavid ProutMAMyron Audije
- DIDmitriy IvanovNANagisa ArizaJWJoshua Westphal
Metacritic
Mar 3, 2026
The pace moves from the hustle-bustle of daily business carried out over five decades to moments of stillness from the artform – the flick of a fan and a hand moving in gentle waves, for example. The actors bring the drama to life, without being overly dramatic.
Aparita Bhandari
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Feb 19, 2026
The gender questions are open-ended and the sacrifices of the artist’s life familiar ground, but Kokuho truly comes alive in the performance sequences that evoke the deep roots of theatre, and the semaphore of emotions represented in gestures, poses, strange movements and painted faces that evoke feelings beyond words.
Liam Lacey
Original-Cin
Nov 13, 2025
The central narrative, of the emotional dance between these two men over decades, holds even as the running time, while never boring you, often feels exaggerated for the sake of epicness rather than wholly necessary to this telling.
Ryan Lattanzio
IndieWire
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