Kokuho (2025)

Lee Sang-il | Japan | 2025 | 175 min | M18 (Sexual Scene) Due to a lack of family connections to the kabuki establishment, a yakuza’s son struggles for decades to gain true recognition. In this epic spanning five decades in post-war Japan, young and promising Kikuo is taken in and mentored by a prestigious Kabuki family. Yet between him and his master’s only son, Shunsuke, only one has the lineage required to become a kokuho (national treasure). As a result, Kikuo and Shunsuke’s relationship becomes complicated, with growth, sacrifice, brotherhood and betrayal dominating at various points. Kokuho is a meditation on tradition and national identity, as well as the conflicts between continuity and change. The culmination of 15 years of work, the film is a gorgeous homage to kabuki and its past and future – majestic in scope and ambition, but never straying from humanity and intimacy.