ekeby I want to comment on the geisha scene--one that is less than a minute long. There is more power, mystery, eroticism, history, suspense--and a whole bunch of other adjectives--in that one brief scene than in the entire movie Memoirs of a Geisha. Or any other movie I've ever seen with a geisha.* It is absolutely hypnotic and something you will never forget. And that's just a tiny fraction of this movie. Same sex relationships figure in the plot, so I count this as one of my ten best gay films. But it is not a gay film in any other sense except that the desire and love is for the same sex. The dialog is literate and witty, the characters are multi-dimensional, and the story has many levels. It is a meditation on beauty, obsession, jealousy, order, and disorder. This movie is fascinating, mysterious, and exquisite. What else could you possibly want?*EDIT: I learned from the message boards that the character is actually a high-ranked courtesan, not a geisha. For devotees of Japanese culture, this distinction is important; for us regular people, not so much.

GyatsoLa Oshima has long had a fascination with the disruptive impact of sexuality in society - the story of a beautiful young swordsman and his impact on a closed warrior caste is an obvious topic for him.The movie starts very promisingly, with some beautifully filmed and dramatic scenes showing the selection and training of the warriors. But for me the movie rapidly lost its momentum and became confused and incoherent and ultimately unsatisfactory. The acting is highly uneven in quality and tone and some scenes are almost laughably badly directed (such as a highly stage bound scene where two warriors attempt to set a ladder down a very small drop). In many sections the action is filled out by ponderous and pointless voice-over narrative - usually the last resort of the unimaginative film maker.If this was by some unknown director I'd just put it down to an overambitious but untalented film maker, but clearly this can't be the case with Oshima. I found myself struggling to see what he was trying to say - is this simply a story about a handsome but vacuous and possibly psychopathic young man who causes havoc by exploiting the homosexual urges of some warriors? Is it a meditation on how beauty without depth draws men to destruction? Or is Oshima trying to say that homosexual desire and comradeship among men are intricately bound together? Its probably all of these things, but I found the story unsatisfactory and poorly thought out. Oshima makes a meal over the fact that even the 'straight' Samurai treat the boy (Kano) in a special way - he seems to think he's saying something profound here, but its hardly original to say that there are complicated emotions behind the feelings of comradeship and friendship between men. If I hadn't known this was made by a mature 'Master' film maker i would have thought it was an immature young artist thinking his banal thoughts are in some way profound and original when nothing could be further from the truth.I really wanted to like this movie - and I have thought a lot about this before writing this review as many people here (and respected critics such as Donald Richie) have loved it, and I keep thinking 'I'm missing something'. But I honestly feel that this is a poor movie by a film maker who is well past his best. The 'insights' are banal and clichéd and the overall execution of the movie is poor - the unevenness of the acting strongly suggests to me that the cast and crew were very unconvinced by the parts they were playing. I think its symptomatic of the long term decline of Japanese cinema that a movie like this that isn't remotely comparable to the numerous great Japanese films of the 20 years or so after the ending of WWII (including some by Oshima) should get such attention and praise.

S P@ If the title doesn't spoil it for ya, i dunno what will. But let me begin by telling you that if you've never sampled samu-erotic (samurai erotic) poetry in the form of swordplay (get it?) then in you're in for a ride that will have you questioning your own sexuality for hours to come. The climax of this film will have you literally in sweats, especially if you have co-c-k-aphobia of the 3rd degree. Have you ever seen a Samurai cry? I wasn't aware that they were allowed to, due to their stern manliness. But what if a Saumurai were to cry while another Samurai was inside of him? Either way, I recommend this FLICK to the whole family... and I'm sure senior citizen's will get a kick out of it too.

Claudio Carvalho Ïn 1865, in Kyoto, in a period of fights among different clans, Sozaburo Kano (Ryuhei Matsuda) and Hyozo Tashiro (Tadanobu Asano) join a samurai legion to be trained as warriors. The beauty of the manipulative Kano sexually attracts the other men, including high ranking commanders, and he becomes lover of Tashiro."Gohatto" is a weird movie for westerns like me, who are not familiarized with Japanese culture. However, it is a beautiful movie, with a stunning music score and a wonderful photography. Although I have not completely understood the plot, specially the conclusion of the story, I found this movie very intriguing and I liked it. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Tabu" (Taboo")