‘Kokuho’ Review: Japan’s Oscar Submission Is a Stunning Tale of Art, Ambition and Bloodlines Set in the World of Kabuki

Kokuho, which takes its title and its novelistic sweep from a recent work of fiction about the rarefied world of kabuki, begins in the mid-1960s and ends 50 years later. Steeped in modern Japanese history without explicating it, director Sang-il Lee’s feature is propelled by operatic intensity and visual poetry. It unfolds over three mostly riveting hours, with only occasional jagged lapses in narrative momentum. Through its twinned stories of aspiring actors — one born into the kabuki tradition, one an outsider determined to climb its ranks — the movie blends backstage melodrama, succession saga and making-of-an-artist dynamics. At the center of its superb cast, Ryo Yoshizawa and Ryusei Yokohama deliver exquisitely layered performances that interweave offstage characterization and onstage theatricality.

After the crime drama Villain (2010) and murder mystery Rage (2016), Kokuho is Lee’s third adaptation of a novel by Shuichi Yoshida. Japan’s official submission to the Oscars’ international feature category,…