Taboo

New Yorker Films | Release Date: October 6, 2000

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

75	METASCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

100

Wesley Morris

A further, captivating extension of Oshima's marriage of the oblique and the erotic. Read full review

Kevin Thomas

It takes a director with exceptional talent, skill and experience to explore ambiguity in all aspects of human nature and behavior, and Oshima has created a film of resilient, downright tensile strength that ends on a satisfyingly ironic note. Read full review

F. X. Feeney

Above all, Oshima has fashioned a tale of men among men that feels familiar at first, then moves boldly into more enigmatic terrain. Read full review

J. Hoberman

An action film at once baroque and austere, hypnotic and opaque. Read full review

Stephen Holden

Illustrates the underlying fear that when energies that should be directed toward warfare are diverted into passion, unity is impossible. Read full review

Mr. ShowbizMichael Atkinson

Emblematic of the man's (Oshima) career: ironic, ambiguous, sublime.

Steven Rea

Ripe with homoeroticism, but also with what the director — who made the film after recovering from a stroke a few years back — calls "the scent of murder."

William Arnold

It's hard to figure exactly what the point of this movie is -- except maybe to expose the myth of samurai machismo. Read full review

David Sterritt

The movie's most striking assets are its lyrical visual style, which forms a silky counterpoint to the plot's turbulent emotions, and Beat Takeshi's smooth and expressive performance as a senior warrior. Read full review

Roger Ebert

Oshima, directing his first film in 14 years, has found an actor with the physical attributes to play the character and seems content to leave it at that; his camera regards Sozaburo as an object of beauty but hardly seems to engage him. Read full review

Jami Bernard

Impressionistic and open to interpretation, which is a kind way of saying that there's no way to figure out the ending.

Jonathan Foreman

It's actually the surprisingly compelling plot and the often hilarious dialogue that keep you watching this tale of passion and murder in a Samurai militia unit - not the beautiful scenery or the elegant color palette.

Todd McCarthy

Walks the line between conviction and camp with a not entirely steady step. Read full review

TV Guide MagazineKen Fox

A well-crafted potboiler from start to finish. Read full review

Marrit Ingman

Bizarre, even darkly comic at times. But it's also elegant and mannered. Read full review

Loren King

The intriguing subject, unfortunately, collapses under too many talky scenes of the samurai discussing their feelings and gossiping about who loves whom.

Film.comJared Rapfogel

A difficult, ambiguous film.