Gohatto ("Taboo") is a 1999 film by Nagisa Oshima.
Kyoto, 1865. The Shinsengumi are a sort of Praetorian Guard crossed with State Sec, samurai protecting the shogun and enforcing his rule. Into their monastic life come two new recruits, Tashiro and Sōzaburō. Tashiro is your standard issue samurai, but Sōzaburō is a beautiful, slender, smooth-cheeked, very androgynous young man of 18. Apparently homosexuality is no big deal among the Shinsengumi, and soon the men of the group start lusting for the pretty youth. Sōzaburō for his part doesn't exactly encourage them but doesn't exactly discourage them either, seeming to enjoy their attention.
Tashiro makes a direct sexual advance to Sōzaburō but the young man rejects him. An older samurai named Yuzawa succeeds in making Sōzaburō his lover. But tension and jealousy over Sōzaburō continues to roil the unit, until it leads to murder.
Nagisa Oshima's last film and the only one he completed over the last 27 years of his life (declining health after a 1996 stroke being part of the reason). Prior Oshima collaborator Ryuichi Sakamoto composed the score.
Tropes:
- Cure Your Gays: While homosexuality in general is no big deal, it eventually becomes clear that Sōzaburō and his girlish prettiness are undermining unit cohesion among the Shinsengumi. In an attempt to head this off, Kondo orders Yamazaki to take Sōzaburō to a courtesan house and get him to have sex with a woman. The attempt is a failure, as Sōzaburō shows no interest in the woman at all.
- Decapitation Presentation: Sōzaburō lops a disgraced samurai's head off, then ritually presents it to Kondo.
- For the Evulz: Sōzaburō murders his lover and frames another man for it. He tries and fails to kill Yamazaki. And it's suggested that he's trying to undermine the Shinsengumi from within. Why? The ending reveals that Sōzaburō is in love with Okita, another member of the Shinsengumi, who is close to Sōzaburō's age but does not return his affections. Does Sōzaburō simply resent the older men who won't stop hitting on him, when the younger man that Sōzaburō really wants ignores him? Is something else going on? Is Sōzaburō an enemy agent? (The Shinsengumi would soon be destroyed in the Meiji Restoration, when the emperor regained control and wiped out the shogunate.). The movie never explains Sōzaburō's motivations.
- High-Class Call Girl: Yamazaki hires an oiran (courtesan) to try to introduce Sōzaburō to the 'way of women', which doesn't work.
- High-Pressure Blood: A ritual beheading leads to a high-pressure spraying fountain of blood, as does Yuzawa's murder later in the film.
- Inner Monologue: The audience is treated to Hijikata's inner monologue a couple of times, like in the opening scene where he takes note of the look that Kondo gives Sōzaburō and wonders if his boss is attracted to the boy.
- Intro Dump: In the opening scene, Commander Kondo asks second-in-command Hijikata who the two new recruits are, and Hijikata gives Kondo and the audience a huge amount of exposition telling both men's name and life stories.
- Jidaigeki: Set at the very end of what's commonly called the jidai geki era, right before the Meiji Restoration ended the time of the samurai.
- Narrator: A narrator is used rather sparingly to fill in bits of exposition.
- Ominous Fog: For the final violent confrontation in which Sōzaburō is supposed to kill Tashiro (on Kondo's order), the ground is wreathed in fog.
- Pretty Boy: Sōzaburō is slender, smooth of chin, highly androgynous, and has long luxurious hair that extends fetchingly over his forehead. Other characters describe him as "beautiful". He's quite aware of this, steadfastly refusing when Yamazaki, his commanding officer who is wary of the effect he has on the other men, orders him to cut his hair. The only thing cutting against this is that, for all his androgynous pretty looks and his lush hair and his rather effeminate manner, Sōzaburō is also a highly skilled swordsman, one of the best in the group.
- The Reveal: Tashiro didn't kill Yuzawa, Sōzaburō did. Sōzaburō killed his lover and framed another one of his suitors for it.
- Seme: A live-action example with Yuzawa, who is established as the pitcher in his relationship with Sōzaburō. He is older and bigger than Sōzaburō.
- So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Sōzaburō's Bishōnen prettiness wrecks the unit. As he walks away Hijikata even says "he was too beautiful".
- Uke: A live-action example with Sōzaburō, who is established as the catcher in his relationship with Yuzawa.
- Virgin in a White Dress: Gender-flipped, and particularly appropriate for the androgynous Sōzaburō. While the other men of the unit always dress in dark-colored hakama, Sōzaburō is often seen in white. Additionally, dialogue states that he's never been with a woman, and it's implied that he's never been with a man, either. After he definitely has sex with Yuzawa, he spends most of the rest of the film wearing the dark hakama.
