#Isao Yukisada

[lostinmac]

Open House (1998)

Dir. Isao Yukisada

[kaipanzero]

Revolver Lily

リボルバー・リリー (2023)

[hiroseudachi]

go, 2001

dir. isao yukisada

[lascitasdelashoras]

Go, de Isao Yukisada, 2001

[lela-in-x]

GO (2001), dir. by Isao Yukisada, starring Yōsuke Kubozuka and Kou Shibasaki

[nirbanox]

Go (2001)

Directed by Isao Yukisada

[antinousamongthereeds]

[screamofdespair]

世界の中心で、愛をさけぶ Crying Out Love in the Center of the World

2004

Isao Yukisada

[bluen3hey]

2020  劇場 Gekijo

Theater

[rallizedenudes]

[cultfaction]

Third Window Films brings Isao Yukisada's GO to Bluray

Third Window Films present the world bluray debut of Isao Yukisada’s classic GO, Japan’s official submission for the ��Best Foreign Language Film’ category of the 74th Academy Awards in 2002. Based on the award winning novel by Kazuki Kaneshiro. Sugihara (Yosuke Kubozuka) feels more like a misfit than most high school students, being the son of a Japanese mother (Shinobu Otake) and a North Korean…

[jugeullae]

What kind of dreams do dogs of the nation like you dream of?

REVOLVER LILY リボルバー・リリー (2023, Yukisada Isao)

[hiroseudachi]

go, 2001

dir. isao yukisada

[usertoxicyaoi]

"What, aren't you coming in?"

KYUSO WA CHIZU NO YUME WO MIRU (2020). DIRECTED BY: YUKISADA ISAO.

[madamshogunassassin]

Revolver LILY リボルバー・リリー [2023]

Directed By: Isao Yukisada

[99pacificpassions]

Cat Corners a Mouse

@absolutebl:

The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese AKA Kyuso wa Chizu no Yume wo Miru (Japan 2020) - Drama llama queers so queer and so dramatic it's like Japan is trying to PROVE something: obsession, cheating, break-up, reunion, then break up again, all of it explicit. This show is just SO JAPANESE. I can't even, but you should watch it and you'll know exactly what I mean. Something like My Personal Weatherman owes it's lineage to this kind of BL. If you like Japan naked, boney, emo, and smoking (hot & ciggy) you will love this, and should watch it. It's objectively amazing, I can't stand it, but I NEED people to talk about it more.

Absolute-kun gives so much and asks for so little. Here's my personal appreciation of this terrific film, for him and others interested in top shelf BL…

Spoilers ahead, but I felt Cornered Mouse (currently on Viki) was better the second time because I could soak up the details. If you haven’t seen it, you might enjoy it more with some background beforehand. It's a bit difficult to keep up with.

The seme is Imagase Wataru (on left above), a gay man passionately in love with Otomo Kyoichi, a businessman married to a woman. Wataru (given name) is like a character out of American Noir… literally a chain-smoking private investigator.  Like a Noir protagonist, we may not like his means, but he has a code he lives by.

Kyoichi is handsome and sympathetic, but he places himself in situations where women eventually suggest a sexual liaison and his fatal character flaw is that he can’t say no to women. But the philanderer can say no to Wataru, to a point. He’s much rougher with Wataru’s feelings than he is with any of the women in the movie.

The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese is based on a manga of the same name and reviewers say that it’s about 65% faithful to the original story. Another reviewer compared it to Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love, which is one of the best films ever made. I won’t claim Cornered Mouse is in Mood's league, but I would say it's close and that the main differences are Mood’s opulence and heterosexuality. Cornered Mouse is the best-crafted BL I’ve seen to date.

The film has some great writing, but prefers to show instead of tell, which requires a lot from the talented actors. Narita Ryo as Wataru is remarkable and a couple screenshots aren’t going to do his performance justice, but here he's hunched on a stool like a cat:

Here's Wataru after Kyoichi wakes up to find him looking through the text messages on Kyoichi's phone... in the same room: 

Narita Ryo transcends the AbsoluteBL bar for great acting. Elsewhere, he’s not afraid to look ugly in a scene.

Obviously, this film’s in the BL category of “gay man converts straight man”, generally considered a doomed goal within the queer experience. Somehow, Cornered Mouse’s river of details makes this seem realistic, mostly due to the straight lead’s indecisiveness and Wataru’s persistence... and his fellatio techniques.

Negative reviewers of Cornered Mouse never dispute that it's well-crafted. They tend to complain about the ending and that the characters were difficult to like. Yet, the movie is about accepting people for who they are. If you don’t believe me… well, here’s the director Yukisada Isao:

My hot take is that Cornered Mouse is less about the lead characters accepting each other for who they are and more about the audience accepting them despite Kyoichi’s duplicity and Wataru’s lack of ethics.

The audience is also asked to accept the dilemmas inherent within the “gay man converts straight man” BL subgenre. At a key moment, well along in the men’s sexual relationship, Kyoichi’s college lover has called them both separately for drinks. She makes Kyoichi choose between them, resulting in this exchange:

Kyoichi (to Wataru): “I could never choose you. No straight guy would. You get it, don’t you?”

Wataru, smirking: “Yes.”

Kyoichi then goes to bed with the ex-girlfriend, but can’t perform. He returns to Wataru and is “punished” for his hubris. 

Previously, Wataru has asked to be the top during sex, but was rebuffed. After getting drilled, Kyoichi treats his relationship with Wataru with new respect. Yes, he will break up with him and even get engaged with a woman, but he goes through the formalities of a break up, on par with a heterosexual relationship. He’s far more concerned with Wataru’s feelings, even as he’s crushing him, than he was before that key moment.

The film asks its contemporary audience to come to terms with this more traditional implication: that Kyoichi “turned gay” by taking the sub role.

The other problem for many reviewers was Cornered Mouse’s open ending. They thought it was open, anyway. I didn’t. Kyoichi breaks off his engagement to a lovely woman and vows to “prepare” for the return of his lover Wataru. Kyoichi has always been the reluctant partner. Throughout the film, Wataru pursued Kyoichi no matter his target’s resistance... stalking, blackmailing, pleading... as if he had no limits. Of course, he’ll be back for more. Besides, in the manga, it’s made clear that’s what happens.

Wataru talking earlier in the film: