So I saw Gassoh
I'm just going to copy this straight out of my travel journal, so ignore that it seems like it just happened. Because it did just happen when I wrote it the first time. You should take into account that I'm not fluent in Japanese, so I couldn't catch every line.
On a friend's advice, on my way back from Yokohama, I looked into going to see Gassoh. Good thing I did! It was the 2nd to last day in Tokyo before it goes to other cities. It seems when Japanese say a movie is a "road show", they really mean it! So, having made it as far as Ueno Station before deciding what to do, I retraced my journey back to Kanba and then to Shibuya. I took the wrong exit at Shibuya and then walked the wrong direction, ending up going completely around the station. But here I am at last, at the Cine Palace for the discounted late show, which, by the way, has a respectable attendance. Most of the seats are filled.
I had heard a lot of negatives about the Japanese movie theater experience. First, there are some good things. The theater is clean, the snacks are reasonably priced, and the audience is quiet. The negatives? This was discount show, yet was still 1500 yen. The screen wasn't much larger than those oversized "home theater" TVs some people buy. Worst of all are the seats. They seem innocent at first, but in reality are an instrument of torture designed to test your commitment to watching the movie. They are impossible to either sit straight in, as you find yourself being slowly sucked down, or to slouch comfortably in, as they demand that your spine bend exactly in way in which human spines do not bend. Nevertheless, I persevered, and was well rewarded.
Gassoh is very much a story told in the Japanese tradition, wherein the motivation and outcome of the characters' actions is left for the audience's subjective interpretation.Of course, some things are given. Seto Koji's character, Masanosuke, is expelled from his adoptive home, leaving this rather dainty flower adrift in the turbulent flow of history. He may have been born a samurai, but he was obviously an effete example of the late Edo period samurai, more interested in manners than martial arts and decidely squeamish.
Yagira Yuya's character, on the other hand, has not accepted the curtailed life of the samurai class under the bakufu. Goku has been in direct service to the shogun and is bent on preserving the shogunate, no matter the shogun's own opinon on the matter at this point. His fanaticism becomes the driving force of the film. His fanaticism also leads him to betray every relationship, every kindness. His introductory scene is him breaking his engagement with (Okayama Amane) Teijirou's sister, Sayo (Kadowaki Mugi). She is devastated, facing being married off to a less desirable suitor than this young man who is her brother's childhood friend. Teijirou is furious, and the two fast friends fall into fighting.
It's in the middle of one of their fights that Masanosuke pops up, innocently and enthusiastically greeting them. HIs presence interrupts but doesn't end the fighting between the two. Instead, it redirects it into a competition for Masanosuke's soul, a competition in which he is wholly uninterested. Goku scores a victory by leading them both to a new shop stocked with exotic clothes and props. Picking up a prop gun, Masanosuke supplies imagined shooting noises for this weapon he's never heard. Rather abruptly, the three of them find themselves the target of a different shot, as the pose for an early Japanese photographer.
The young samurai receive an invitation for an audience with Mori Tokunoshin, an older samurai played with gravitas by Odagiri Joe. Mori sympathizes with Goku and the shogitai resistance that is trying to prop up the bakufu, but he accepts that the shogunate is finished and they must move on. While he advises the young men to accept the situation and try to adapt, troops from the new government arrive, suspecting a plot. Goku takes arms against them, killing one and gravely injuring himself.
Mori sees to it that Goku receives attention to his wounds, keeping him at his house. Kana (Sakurai Minami), a young woman under Mori's protection, and Masanosuke provide around the clock care to him. As they do, they become friendly, and Masanosuke becomes smitten. After Goku's recovery, in part to gain Kana's favor, Masanosuke joins Goku in the shogitai. He has no enthusiasm for the cause, but he hopes she notices him marching. Thinking he has succeeded, he buys an expensive hair ornament to give her as a token of his love. He practices his confession, screws up his courage, and almost thinks better of doing it when Kana seeks him out to give him her confession... which she wants him to give to Goku. Though crushed, he faithfully delivers the message. Goku has neither interest nor respect for Kana, but begins inviting her to his unit's drinking parties, where the other women present are all, shall we say, professional party girls. Masanosuke is decidely sullen at this turn of events, and becomes less and less interested in either the parties or the shogitai.
Mori begins to make stronger efforts to derail the shogitai and avoid unnecessary bloodshed. For his pains, Goku assassinates him, coming as a friend and then slitting his throat. From this point on, as cooler heads have been removed quite literally, battle is inevitable. The imperial troops mass with demands that the rebellious samurai lay down their arms. As the shogitai harden their own stance, Teijirou joins Goku out of friendship. Masanosuke goes to battle only under pressure from Goku, relenting because of the presence of Teijirou. He has been, throughout, someone whose direction is determined by others.
The battle at Ueno goes badly for the shogitai, who are no match for the modernized imperial forces. Fleeing, Goku and Masanosuke come across Teijirou, who has been badly wounded. Goku, still living out his samurai fantasy, dispatches him dispassionately. The remaining two continue their escape but, just as they seem to be safe, an errant bullet hits Goku. Masanosuke helps him into a peasant's outbuilding where they wait out the massacre of the rest of the shogitai.
During the long night, Masanosuke wakes to the sound of Goku moaning loudly. Checking on him, he discovers that Goku has attempted to finish himself off, crying over and over "a little more, a little more". Masanosuke unsheaths his own sword to give Goku the final grace, but his own revulsion at the act mingles with his disgust at Goku's betrayals. He drops the sword and flees outside to retch.
In the morning, peasants come to the shed, finding Masanosuke alive and Goku dead. Recognizing that anyone dressed as a samurai was still in danger, they disguise Masanosuke as a peasant, even styling his hair in a lowly fashion. His sword they hide in a sheath of straw. Whatever the future holds, Masanosuke is now truly on his own, with neither friends nor family nor inherited status. Yet one senses that his humility and willingness to accept his circumstances will give him a better chance among peasants than he ever had as a samurai.
This seems the natural ending, the close of an ugly war, a world turned upside down. I don't know how the manga ends, but movie Gassoh doesn't end there. Instead, we see Sayo unhappily married to an older and unpleasant man, ruefully obsessed with the ghost of Goku, who embodied all the stereotypical traits of the samurai warrior. Her romance with the violence, callousness, posturing, ritualistic staging of masculinity continued. Her invocation of his ghost, her welcome of his spectral embrace, is in contrast to Masanosuke's shedding of the physical trappings of his class.
I had to wonder if both endings aren't a commentary on political history. While the old order was forever abolished, its ghost was called on by the same imperial regime that had killed it, conveniently calling if forth to justify militarism and expansion. The displaced samurai, like Masanosuke, built new lives, but in a culture where position is heavily indicated by speech, would never really be able to leave their past behind. And what does it say about current times? Masanosuke was written specifically to represent modern youth struggling with the expectations of the past. Is the ghost of Goku an acknowledgment that society won't easily change?
Regarding the performances, Seto had the most difficult role as Masanosuke, a generally pleasant if rather neurotic young man. He is the one reacting to what goes on around him, constantly trying to figure out his place in a world that seems to reject him. Seto really excels at introspective roles. Yagira was effective as Goku, who was single-minded, belligerent, and something of a bully. The physicality of his acting made Goku's rashness really contrast with Masanosuke's restrained thoughtfulness. The rest of the cast, likewise, was well-chosen and believable, down into the minor roles.
Sorry it took me so long to copy this out of my notebook. I can hardly wait until the rest of you can buy the DVD or blu-ray so we can discuss the meaning of this story! And if anyone has read the original manga, please chime in about the ending! Is it different than the movie?
On a friend's advice, on my way back from Yokohama, I looked into going to see Gassoh. Good thing I did! It was the 2nd to last day in Tokyo before it goes to other cities. It seems when Japanese say a movie is a "road show", they really mean it! So, having made it as far as Ueno Station before deciding what to do, I retraced my journey back to Kanba and then to Shibuya. I took the wrong exit at Shibuya and then walked the wrong direction, ending up going completely around the station. But here I am at last, at the Cine Palace for the discounted late show, which, by the way, has a respectable attendance. Most of the seats are filled.
I had heard a lot of negatives about the Japanese movie theater experience. First, there are some good things. The theater is clean, the snacks are reasonably priced, and the audience is quiet. The negatives? This was discount show, yet was still 1500 yen. The screen wasn't much larger than those oversized "home theater" TVs some people buy. Worst of all are the seats. They seem innocent at first, but in reality are an instrument of torture designed to test your commitment to watching the movie. They are impossible to either sit straight in, as you find yourself being slowly sucked down, or to slouch comfortably in, as they demand that your spine bend exactly in way in which human spines do not bend. Nevertheless, I persevered, and was well rewarded.
Gassoh is very much a story told in the Japanese tradition, wherein the motivation and outcome of the characters' actions is left for the audience's subjective interpretation.Of course, some things are given. Seto Koji's character, Masanosuke, is expelled from his adoptive home, leaving this rather dainty flower adrift in the turbulent flow of history. He may have been born a samurai, but he was obviously an effete example of the late Edo period samurai, more interested in manners than martial arts and decidely squeamish.
Yagira Yuya's character, on the other hand, has not accepted the curtailed life of the samurai class under the bakufu. Goku has been in direct service to the shogun and is bent on preserving the shogunate, no matter the shogun's own opinon on the matter at this point. His fanaticism becomes the driving force of the film. His fanaticism also leads him to betray every relationship, every kindness. His introductory scene is him breaking his engagement with (Okayama Amane) Teijirou's sister, Sayo (Kadowaki Mugi). She is devastated, facing being married off to a less desirable suitor than this young man who is her brother's childhood friend. Teijirou is furious, and the two fast friends fall into fighting.
It's in the middle of one of their fights that Masanosuke pops up, innocently and enthusiastically greeting them. HIs presence interrupts but doesn't end the fighting between the two. Instead, it redirects it into a competition for Masanosuke's soul, a competition in which he is wholly uninterested. Goku scores a victory by leading them both to a new shop stocked with exotic clothes and props. Picking up a prop gun, Masanosuke supplies imagined shooting noises for this weapon he's never heard. Rather abruptly, the three of them find themselves the target of a different shot, as the pose for an early Japanese photographer.
The young samurai receive an invitation for an audience with Mori Tokunoshin, an older samurai played with gravitas by Odagiri Joe. Mori sympathizes with Goku and the shogitai resistance that is trying to prop up the bakufu, but he accepts that the shogunate is finished and they must move on. While he advises the young men to accept the situation and try to adapt, troops from the new government arrive, suspecting a plot. Goku takes arms against them, killing one and gravely injuring himself.
Mori sees to it that Goku receives attention to his wounds, keeping him at his house. Kana (Sakurai Minami), a young woman under Mori's protection, and Masanosuke provide around the clock care to him. As they do, they become friendly, and Masanosuke becomes smitten. After Goku's recovery, in part to gain Kana's favor, Masanosuke joins Goku in the shogitai. He has no enthusiasm for the cause, but he hopes she notices him marching. Thinking he has succeeded, he buys an expensive hair ornament to give her as a token of his love. He practices his confession, screws up his courage, and almost thinks better of doing it when Kana seeks him out to give him her confession... which she wants him to give to Goku. Though crushed, he faithfully delivers the message. Goku has neither interest nor respect for Kana, but begins inviting her to his unit's drinking parties, where the other women present are all, shall we say, professional party girls. Masanosuke is decidely sullen at this turn of events, and becomes less and less interested in either the parties or the shogitai.
Mori begins to make stronger efforts to derail the shogitai and avoid unnecessary bloodshed. For his pains, Goku assassinates him, coming as a friend and then slitting his throat. From this point on, as cooler heads have been removed quite literally, battle is inevitable. The imperial troops mass with demands that the rebellious samurai lay down their arms. As the shogitai harden their own stance, Teijirou joins Goku out of friendship. Masanosuke goes to battle only under pressure from Goku, relenting because of the presence of Teijirou. He has been, throughout, someone whose direction is determined by others.
The battle at Ueno goes badly for the shogitai, who are no match for the modernized imperial forces. Fleeing, Goku and Masanosuke come across Teijirou, who has been badly wounded. Goku, still living out his samurai fantasy, dispatches him dispassionately. The remaining two continue their escape but, just as they seem to be safe, an errant bullet hits Goku. Masanosuke helps him into a peasant's outbuilding where they wait out the massacre of the rest of the shogitai.
During the long night, Masanosuke wakes to the sound of Goku moaning loudly. Checking on him, he discovers that Goku has attempted to finish himself off, crying over and over "a little more, a little more". Masanosuke unsheaths his own sword to give Goku the final grace, but his own revulsion at the act mingles with his disgust at Goku's betrayals. He drops the sword and flees outside to retch.
In the morning, peasants come to the shed, finding Masanosuke alive and Goku dead. Recognizing that anyone dressed as a samurai was still in danger, they disguise Masanosuke as a peasant, even styling his hair in a lowly fashion. His sword they hide in a sheath of straw. Whatever the future holds, Masanosuke is now truly on his own, with neither friends nor family nor inherited status. Yet one senses that his humility and willingness to accept his circumstances will give him a better chance among peasants than he ever had as a samurai.
This seems the natural ending, the close of an ugly war, a world turned upside down. I don't know how the manga ends, but movie Gassoh doesn't end there. Instead, we see Sayo unhappily married to an older and unpleasant man, ruefully obsessed with the ghost of Goku, who embodied all the stereotypical traits of the samurai warrior. Her romance with the violence, callousness, posturing, ritualistic staging of masculinity continued. Her invocation of his ghost, her welcome of his spectral embrace, is in contrast to Masanosuke's shedding of the physical trappings of his class.
I had to wonder if both endings aren't a commentary on political history. While the old order was forever abolished, its ghost was called on by the same imperial regime that had killed it, conveniently calling if forth to justify militarism and expansion. The displaced samurai, like Masanosuke, built new lives, but in a culture where position is heavily indicated by speech, would never really be able to leave their past behind. And what does it say about current times? Masanosuke was written specifically to represent modern youth struggling with the expectations of the past. Is the ghost of Goku an acknowledgment that society won't easily change?
Regarding the performances, Seto had the most difficult role as Masanosuke, a generally pleasant if rather neurotic young man. He is the one reacting to what goes on around him, constantly trying to figure out his place in a world that seems to reject him. Seto really excels at introspective roles. Yagira was effective as Goku, who was single-minded, belligerent, and something of a bully. The physicality of his acting made Goku's rashness really contrast with Masanosuke's restrained thoughtfulness. The rest of the cast, likewise, was well-chosen and believable, down into the minor roles.
Sorry it took me so long to copy this out of my notebook. I can hardly wait until the rest of you can buy the DVD or blu-ray so we can discuss the meaning of this story! And if anyone has read the original manga, please chime in about the ending! Is it different than the movie?