Kokuho

This lavish decades-spanning drama about the life of a kabuki artist has become Japan’s most successful live-action film.

What toll does art exact on a life? It’s a question that runs through this large-scale portrait of Kikuo Tachibana, the son of a Yakuza boss who, following his father’s murder, trains under a kabuki actor and rises through the ranks to become the star performer of his generation.

Covering 50 years in Japan’s history, Sang-il Lee’s sumptuous epic broke box office records, becoming Japan’s highest-grossing live-action film to date.