Why you can trust 12DOVE Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.
The title of the latest film by the director of In The Realm Of The Senses translates as "taboo", so you'd expect something shockingly controversial. Instead Gohatto is a confusing and often boring examination of forbidden love among 19th century samurai.
New recruit Kano (Ryuhei Matsuda) has a pure, androgynous beauty that has a disruptive effect on his fellow trainees. Soon sexual tension is running high and blood is running freely. But although homosexuality was tolerated - - promoted even - - within the world of the samurai, Oshima sees it as a destructive, negative force.
The lyrical mood is reinforced by a strong score from Ryuichi Sakamoto, but the director's approach is too detached and abstract to engage viewers on an emotional level. His heavy-handed methods - - wordy intertitles and voiceovers - - fail to clarify problems of story, character and time-frame.
A new Batman #1 from Matt Fraction and Jorge Jiménez launches this September with a "revamped aesthetic," a throwback costume, and a new Batmobile
Marvel reveals its full slate of May 2025 comics and covers featuring the Avengers, the X-Men, Spider-Man, and more
Former Witcher 3 lead says his new vampire RPG Blood of Dawnwalker has a smaller open world because "it feels more like you actually know the place" compared to "behemoths"
