Kokuho

2025 2h 54m JA

🙌

7.9

BANGER

★7.9TMDB · 118

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Nagasaki, 1964: Following the death of his Yakuza father, 15-year-old Kikuo is taken under the wings of a famous Kabuki actor. Alongside Shunsuke, the actor’s only son, he decides to dedicate himself to this traditional form of theatre. For decades, the two young men grow and evolve together – and one will become the greatest Japanese master of the art of Kabuki.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Ryo Yoshizawa
Kikuo Tachibana
Ryusei Yokohama
Shunsuke Ogaki
Mitsuki Takahata
Harue Fukuda
Shinobu Terajima
Sachiko Ogaki
Soya Kurokawa
Kikuo (young)
Keitatsu Koshiyama
Shunsuke (young)
Min Tanaka
Mangiku Onogawa
Ken Watanabe
Hanjiro Hanai

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Sang-il Lee
Writers: Satoko Okudera
Languages: Japanese
Countries: Japan

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Clocks in at 174 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $134M — a 16.8× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released last year.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Sang-il Lee, shot by Sofian El Fani. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Marihiko Hara. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Tsuyoshi Imai shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Ryo Yoshizawa and Ryusei Yokohama and Mitsuki Takahata carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt35231039 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Sang-il Lee directs. Sofian El Fani behind the camera. Marihiko Hara scores. Tsuyoshi Imai cuts. A long sit — settle in. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in Japan. Dialogue in Japanese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Clocks in at 174 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
2Grossed $134M — a 16.8× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
3Released last year.
4Directed by Sang-il Lee, shot by Sofian El Fani. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Marihiko Hara. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Tsuyoshi Imai shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Ryo Yoshizawa and Ryusei Yokohama and Mitsuki Takahata carry the top of the cast.
8IMDB entry: tt35231039 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 13 themes, including "based on novel or book", "rivalry", "cross dressing", "period drama".
10Released under 13 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Sofian El Fani
Original score: Marihiko Hara
Editing: Tsuyoshi Imai
Production design: Nao Shimoyama
Costume design: Kumiko Ogawa
Makeup / hair: Kyoko Toyokawa
Runtime: 174 min · 2h 54m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $8,000,000
Box office: $134,421,151
Return: 1680% of budget
Original language: JA
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Kokuho (2025)

Awards

New Words and Buzzwords Awards

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Sang-il Lee

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Call Me Dunham2026-02-18
★ 9/10
First of all, I want to thank Feat Pictures for bringing this magical, lavish, and grand Japanese film to Indonesia. I genuinely couldn’t take my eyes off the screen while watching it. One of my favorite aspects is how carefully the film handles its use of music knowing exactly when to bring in the score and when to let silence take over. Moments of quiet often make the atmosphere hit even harder, and it’s rare to see that level of restraint and precision. It honestly feels like a shame that the film only received an Oscar nomination for makeup. So many of its technical elements deserved recognition, especially the original score and the stunning cinematography. The close-up shots are particularly beautiful. In my opinion, the film was seriously snubbed in the Best International Feature Film category. On top of that, the drama between the two main characters is incredibly compelling, with a relationship dynamic that feels rich and well-developed.
CinemaSerf2026-05-13
★ 8/10
When we first meet "Kikuo" (Soyo Murokawa) you get the distinct feeling that his Yakuza father isn't so impressed that he is performing as a kabuki actor at a luncheon. Well that doesn't matter for very long as that meeting is gatecrashed by a rival gang and the young man soon finds himself a fifteen year old orphan in the care of "Hanjiro" (Ken Watanabe) - himself reputedly the finest actor in all Japan. After a failed attempt to avenge his father, "Kikuo" (now Ryô Yoshizawa) and his now new brother "Shensuke" (Ryûsei Yokohama) overcome some initial hostility to become both friends and pupils of this most severe of taskmasters as he attempts to teach them the intricacies of his craft. Historically, the rise of this unique form of drama had drawn attention from the 18th century shogunate and for fear of it's corrupting effects on girls they had been banned from taking part - hence, just like in Shakespearean England a few centuries before, only men were allowed to participate. Luckily for both of these lads, they possess a certain femininity; a (painfully earned) litheness of limb and body and the ability to speak and sing in a falsetto so are soon quite successful as a double-act. When a tragedy strikes this family, though, it falls to the injured "Hanjiro" to select a successor. Whom he chooses really does matter as this form of performance is handed from father to son. If you are not the heir then you won't be accepted by the fraternity and this is where the first in a series of problems emerges for the two young men. One is the heir but isn't the best; one is the best but isn't the heir. When the choice is made, the relationship between "Kikuo" and "Shensuke" looks set to be changed irrevocably. Might time heal? First of all, this is a beautifully crafted piece of cinema with the use of light and the combination of traditional and more classically European music especially effective at presenting us with something of the almost visceral nature of their dedication to, and precision of, their art. Their plays are almost always tragedies: one sees a loving father choose to prove his devotion to his son by kicking him off a cliff; and here again the production design delivers both the costumes and the make up to perfection. Even though our Western ears are less atuned to this sort of musicality, their performances on stage are eerily enthralling and often downright sad. Away from the stage, there is a fair degree of ambition on display that often sees the women in their lives - and their children - end up as collateral damage as the peaks and troughs of both men's lives play out through the 1970s, 80s and nineties. I thought Yoshizawa's portrayal of "Kikuo" to be both convincing and engaging. His young man deprived of family, on the periphery of another and increasingly alone as he becomes more and more obsessed with being the best is compellingly presented and for much of the latter part, his relationship with the equally skilful Yokohama is touching to the point where it is almost as if one of their onstage efforts was seeping out into their reality. This is a beautiful cinematic exposé of an almost three-hundred year old form of stagecraft that is an effortless watch for it's almost three hours. It has intensity, opportunity, despair and even some gangrene (in the 1980s!) and if you are in the mood for something that has more of the operatic to it, then this is well worth a look. If you can find it in a cinema, then all the better. It's a love story - but not as you might expect.

Production companies

Who made it

TOHO
JP
Aniplex
JP
Myriagon Studio
JP
CREDEUS
JP
AMUSE
JP
Lawson
JP

Key crew

NovelShuichi Yoshida
EditorTsuyoshi Imai
Theme Song PerformanceMarihiko Hara
Production DesignNao Shimoyama
Sound EffectsMasaya Kitada
Music ProducerToshihiro Sugita
Casting DirectorMasunobu Motokawa
VFX SupervisorTetsuya Shiraishi
Makeup & HairKyoko Toyokawa
ProducerShinzo Matsuhashi
Assistant DirectorYuki Kishizuka
DecoratorTakuma Sakai
Costume DesignKumiko Ogawa
Makeup ArtistNaomi Hibino
WigmakerTadashi Nishimatsu
Lighting DirectorYuki Nakamura
Production DesignYohei Taneda
Sound RecordistMitsugu Shiratori
Associate ProducerSuguru Kubota
Theme Song PerformanceSatoru Iguchi

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

based on novel or book
rivalry
cross dressing
period drama
gender roles
lgbt
kabuki
1960s
theater performance
nagasaki, japan
grand
japanese culture
festival chéries chéris

Release history · US

When it landed

Premiere2025-10-24· AFI Fest
Theatrical (limited)2025-11-14NR· AMC Universal CityWalk Hollywood (Los Angeles, California)
Theatrical (limited)2025-11-21NR· Angelika Film Center (New York City, New York)
Theatrical (limited)2026-02-06NR· New York City, New York / Los Angeles, California
Theatrical2026-02-20NR