In Nagasaki in 1964, 15-year-old Kikuo loses his yakuza father and is taken in by a celebrated kabuki actor. Raised alongside the actor’s son, Shunsuke, Kikuo devotes himself to the demanding world of traditional Japanese theatre. Over the years, the two boys grow into fierce friends, rivals, and performers shaped by the same stage, but only one can emerge as kabuki’s greatest master. A major cultural phenomenon in Japan and the country’s highest-grossing live-action film of all time, Sang-il Lee’s sweeping epic is both an intimate character drama and a grand tribute to the performers who sacrifice everything in pursuit of artistic perfection.

Reviews

‘Lee Sang-il’s historical drama about the making of a kabuki legend is nothing short of intoxicating.’
★★★★
Juan Barquin, Little White Lies

‘It’s a wonderful demystification of a mysterious art form.’
★★★★
David Hughes, Time Out