Sharon Mae R. Calingasan

 TOP 10 JAPANESE GAY FILMS YOU NEED TO SEE Japan has always been known to have a conservative society but with the advent of time and westernization the country has started to open up, even in terms of sexual orientation and sexuality. In fact, the earliest known gay relations date back to around 1880s but it wasn’t after the post-World War II era that gay films have started to be produced and made available to a wider audience. Let’s take a look at some of the more-known gay genre movies that have caught the attention of local and global audiences. 1. Funeral Parade of Roses (Toshio Matsumoto- 1969) This film by Matsumoto, who started in the film industry by making experimental shorts, is a loose adaptation of the Oedipus Rex and tackles the trials and tribulations of Eddie and other transvestites in Japan. It is set in Tokyo’s underground nightlife and combines the elements of art house, documentary and experimental cinema and it’s been touted as an important work of the Japanese New Wave. The cast includes Pita, Osamu Ogasawara and Yoshio Tsuchiya, among others. Matsumoto also wrote the screenplay of the movie. 2. Yaji & Kita: The Midnight Pilgrims - ( Kankuro Kudo – 2005) This 2005 film by Kudo is led by two popular Japanese actors; Nagase Tomoya (Yaji) of the band Tokio and Nakamura Shichinosuke (Kita) who’s a well-known kabuki actor. The story is about two Edo-era gay men Yaji and Kita who go on a pilgrimage to Ise Shrine in the hope of finding a cure to the latter’s drug addiction and along the way they encounter various obstacles and characters. The film is based loosely from the comic picaresque novel “Tokaidochu Hizakurige” written by Jippensha Ikku and it’s about the misadventures of two travelers on the Tokaido road during the Edo period. 3. Boy’s Choir – ( Akira Ogata – 2000) This film is set in the early ‘70s which has been described as a time of student unrest and shifting morals in Japan. It’s the story of two orphaned teenage boys, Yasuo (Sora Toma) and Michio (Atsushi Ito) who are part of a boy’s choir. Their lives become intertwined when they start to develop romantic feelings for each other. This is Ogata’s debut feature film and the screenplay is written by Kenji Aoki. Interestingly, Ogata received the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award for this film. 4. Where are we going? – ( Yoshihiko Matsui -2008) It’s a love story and road movie that features a new-half or transgender character. Akira (Shuji Kashiwabara), is an orphaned gay machine shop worker who loves to go around town in his motorcycle. He nearly runs over a lady (played by Anzu a real-life transsexual) whom he becomes instantly attracted to, undeterred by the fact that the woman is a new-half. Matsui, who first made a name doing underground films (jishu eiga) in the early ‘80s came up with this movie after a 22-year absence from directorial tasks. 5. Okoge – Takehiro Nakajima -1992 The word Okoge is a Japanese slang term which means a fag hag, a woman who associates mostly or exclusively with gay men. The story is about a young and straight woman in Tokyo who becomes involved in the lives of a gay man and his married lover. Written and directed by Nakajima who’s also known for films like Kyoshu and Village of Dreams, the film’s cast includes Misa Shimizu, Takeo Nakahara and Takehiro Murata. Shimizu won Best Supporting Actress at the Yokohama Film Festival and Best Actress at the Hochi Film Awards for this movie. 6. Hush – Ryosuke Hashiguchi 2001 This film that’s written and directed by Hashiguchi, who is popularly known for his movie projects concerning LGBT issues, is about two gay men and a woman who is looking for someone to love. She proposed to one of them that she would like him to be the father of her would-be child. The cast includes Reiko Kataoka, Kazuya Takahashi and Seiichi Tanabe. Reiko Kataoka won the Best Actress Award at the Blue Ribbon Awards and Kinema Junpo Awards while Seiichi Tanabe won the Best Actor Award at the Hochi Film Awards and Yokohama Film Festival. 7. Taboo (Gohatto) – ( Nagisa Oshima – 1999) This film by Oshima is about homosexuality in the Shinsengumi during the bakumatsu period at the end of the samurai era in the mid-19th century. It’s about Kano Sozaburo (Ryuhei Matsuda), a very skilled swordsman and the new member of a samurai militia unit. Disruption ensues when some of his colleagues became attracted to him which in turn causes tension and threatens the rigid code of the squad. Takeshi Kitano also stars as Vice Commander Hijikata Toshizo and Shinji Takeda as Captain Okita Soji. This movie won Best Film at the Blue Ribbon Awards and Awards of the Japanese Academy and nominated for the Palme d’Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival. 8. Big bang Love Juvenile A- Takashi Miike -2006 This film by Takashi Miike, who’s a highly controversial and prolific filmmaker best known for films like Ichi the Killer and Yakuza Apocalypse, is a visually stylish tale about two male prisoners, Jun (Ryuhei Matsuda) and Katzuki Shiro (Masanobu Ando) brought together by love, emotion and murder. Jun is attracted to Shiro’s strength and intensity. The symbolic visuals and dialogues sharply contrast with the nature of police investigations and somehow creating a surreal commentary on the nature of salvation and violence. The film is nominated for the Grand Prix Award at the Deauville Asian Film Festival. 9. Doushitemo furetakunai ( Chihiro Amano - 2014) This is an engaging film about two men who have a painful past. Shima meets his new boss Togawa , who unfortunately has a hangover, on the first day of work. Togawa is rude and cross but Shima is drawn to the kindness beneath the grouchy façade. This movie is based on the manga with the same name by Yoneda Kou. The cast includes Shôichi Matsuda, Yuya Mito, Masashi Taniguchi and Shou Tomita. 10. Junjou – (Satoshi Kaneda - 2010 ) This drama-romance film by Kaneda, who’s best known for films like Dorei-sen (2010) and Ai no kotodama (2008), is about Tozaki (Rakuto Tochinara) , a writer, who happens to meet his first high school crush Kurata ( Yuta Takahashi) while working on an assignment. They eventually start a relationship but Kurata’s jealousy becomes too much to handle. The film’s screenplay is written by Hirotoshi Kobayashi and Hyota Fujiyama.