Beat Takeshi's Kubi was not the epic I had hoped it would be.

 

Beat Takeshi, also known as Takeshi Kitano, is the name of a man who went from a comedian to a revered and extremely talented filmmaker. When it was announced that he was making a movie adaptation of his own novel, Kubi, I was incredibly excited and found myself hyped for the release. As a lover of the Sengoku Jidai, I had high hopes for an historical epic. Sadly, that wasn't really what Beat Takeshi delivered imo. Kubi falls short of the moniker. 

The plot of Kubi begins shortly after Murashige Araki, a former retainer of Nobunaga Oda, stages a rebellion. The rebellion doesn't go as Murashige had planned and he goes into hiding following his defeat. The news of his men being unable to locate and kill Murashige enrages Nobunaga, whom sends both Hideyoshi Hashiba and Mitsuhide Akechi after him. Oda also promises to make the one successful in bringing Murashige to him, his successor. 

Hideyoshi plans to succeed Nobunaga no matter what it takes with him devising a scheme to betray both Nobunaga himself and Mitsuhide. Using the former ninja turned entertainer, Sorori, Hideyoshi manages to capture Murashige and has him sent to Mitsuhide, the latter then hiding him away in his castle. Akechi and Murashige are secret lovers. 

Despite his cunning schemes, Hideyoshi learns through one of Oda's letters, of Nobunaga's plans to name his son Nobutada Oda, his successor and advises his son to get rid of Hideyoshi, Ieyasu and Mitsuhide. Meanwhile, Nobunaga's frustrations over the situation with Araki grow to the point where he gets more and more paranoid, believing that Ieyasu Tokugawa had been the mastermind behind the rebellion. He orders Mitsuhide to assassinate Ieyasu, an act which Hideyoshi uses to his advantage by playing Nobunaga and Mitsuhide, pitting them against one another. 

The depiction of Nobunaga Oda in Kubi is a fascinating one. I love the fact that the rural Owari dialect is used in his scenes. This is a departure from the novel as standard Japanese is used within the book, but I think it is a welcome change. His ever growing paranoid about the rebellion and the lack of trust he has in his own retainers is really well shown. The scenes in which he goes on angry tirades and verbally as well as physically abuses Mitsuhide among others, are one of the movies highlights. His relationship with Ranmaru Mori is touched upon, with a scene showcasing them having a physical relationship. There's also a depiction of Yasuke, one that shows him being a servant that Nobunaga enjoys having around to massage him, be his lap pillow and throw Mitsuhide around. That has a bold pay off in Kubi. 

The most intriguing aspect of the movie in my humble opinion, was the tale of Mosuke Nanba. Mosuke was a peasant who wanted to follow in Hideyoshi's footsteps by climbing the ranks to become a general and perhaps, overly ambitiously, shogun. So desperate is Mosuke to see his dreams become reality, that he loses parts of his humanity in the process, becoming obsessed with achieving his goal to the point of doing some horrendous things. His tale is a tragic one as although he has some success, he is haunted by his actions and it leads to a satisfying if bleak end. I can see why Kitano chose to include Mosuke's story within Kubi, as much like the people Mosuke hoped to become like, Mitsuhide, Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and others, were driven by ambitions that caused tragedy in some form or another. 

What I also enjoyed about the movie was the cinematography. Beat Takeshi has his own signature style, honed over decades of making movies. Kubi is what one would expect from Kitano and I am a big fan of his style. The camerawork is clean, everything being in crisp and clean focus within the centre of the frame at all times. 

Kitano's brand of humour was also on full display. This was particularly prevalent in his scenes as Hideyoshi Hashiba. The scenes he shared with Nao Omori's Hidenaga and Tadanobu Asano's Kanbei Kuroda, felt almost ad-libbed and more like comedy scenes than scenes within a historical epic. I chuckled a fair few times as I have always enjoyed Kitano's comedy, I must admit. 

I also enjoyed how violent it was. Conflicts of the time period were often far more brutal than what is usually depicted in dramas and movies. As such, the level of violence shown in Kubi was a welcome change to that status quo. The movie is quite brutal, with a lot of blood spilt and plenty of gore. There are several instances of heads being decapitated, as well as some limbs being chopped off in battle. The fighting is ruthless, with battles often being over swiftly rather than prolonged duels. Several groups of men often gang up on a singular foe, ensuring that they stay dead. 

What dragged the movie down in my honest opinion was the rather unfocused plot. Time skipped by with major events just getting the cliff notes treatment. Thankfully, as someone who loves the time period, I could fill in the gaps, but someone heading into this movie with no knowledge of the Sengoku Jidai would be lost. 

There's also the lack of heterosexual relationships being focused on and the overly prominent homosexuality. We see Mitsuhide's secret love affair with the rebelling Murashige Araki, with them hugging and briefly engaging in some intimacy as Murashige kisses Mitsuhide's bare torso and heading further down until the two are interrupted. We also see Nobunaga's relationship with Ranmaru via the unnecessary scene of Oda playing the dominant role in a moment of intimacy before he gets Yasuke to massage him. The Mitsuhide and Murashige scenes are prominent and dragged the entire movie down by how much they went on and on. The lack of Lady No is also rather perplexing as is the lack of Chacha, Nene or even Kitsuno. I feel like simply showing just the homosexual relations was rather misleading as the men had concubines and wives. 

The ensemble cast all brought their A-game to the movie. Ryo Kase stole every scene he was in with his fierce eccentricity and domineering screen presence. His characterisation of Nobunaga was breath-taking to watch, he really felt like a man on the brink of losing all sanity. His paranoia seeped through the screen and well, he was right to be so as was proven in the events that unfolded. 

Shido Nakamura was also a stand out. His portrayal of the overly ambitious peasant, Mosuke Nanba was a highlight of the movie. He made great use of facial expressions, body language and showcased a wide range of emotions that really added to his story. 

Sadly, I can only recommend the movie if you're a fan of Beat Takeshi's previous work, don't particularly care about plot and are fine with prominent homosexual relations being a focal point of the movie. I wanted to enjoy it more than I actually did, it was far from one of Kitano's best works in my humble opinion.