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\u201cA three-hour Japanese epic about a classical performance art (kabuki) isn\u2019t the easiest sell,\u201d said Deborah Ross in The Spectator<\/a>, but it may be that you come away from this \u201cmasterfully sweeping\u201d drama thinking \u2013 was three hours enough?<\/p>\n Spanning 50 years, it opens in 1964, in Nagasaki, with the brutal killing of a crime boss in front of his 14-year-old son Kikuo (Soya Kurokawa). A year later, Kikuo, who has already shown promise as an amateur kabuki artist, is sent to Osaka to sit at the feet of Hanjiro, a highly revered kabuki actor (played by the great Ken Watanabe). Hanjiro has a son who is the same age as Kikuo, and the two train together as onnagata \u2013 men who play the female roles. Over the years we follow their fortunes \u2013 their \u201cdeep friendship\u201d and \u201cblistering rivalry\u201d. And of course there is a lot of kabuki, a form of theatre similar to ballet, which is \u201chighly stylised\u201d and involves \u201cfantastically precise movements\u201d. It makes for a \u201ctrue spectacle\u201d.<\/p>\n This \u201clavish picture\u201d has become Japan\u2019s highest-grossing live-action film of all time, said Wendy Ide in The Observer<\/a>. Kabuki\u2019s cultural specificity (including a mannered vocal delivery) means it is unlikely to replicate that success here. But even those not attuned to the art form will be moved by the \u201csumptuous period production design\u201d, stunning costumes, and the \u201cdepiction of the savagery and suffering inherent in creative excellence\u201d.<\/p>\n