Author: Brett Fujioka
At first glance, Sugihara (Yosuke Kubozuka) looks no different than your average high school rebel-without-a-cause-except that he’s concealing a carefully kept secret: he’s an ethnic Korean-or zainichi-growing up in Japan. The 2001 Japanese film Go chronicles Sugihara’s tribulations as he searches for his identity in a society that refuses to acknowledge him. The film is an adaptation of a novel by the same name by Kazuki Kaneshiro, who is also a zainichi.
A short crash course in modern Japanese history is required for the movie to make the least bit of sense. Koreans numbering the tens of thousands migrated to mainland Japan for forced labor during the Imperial occupation of Korea during World War II. After Japan’s defeat, many of the Koreans residing in Japan lost their Japanese citizenship because Korea was no longer under their rule. Also, Japan’s laws determine citizenship through blood and not location. In other words, the Japanese government denies legitimacy to a Korean born in Japan, but an ethnic Japanese born overseas is guaranteed citizenship until the age of 21. Of course, there is an alternate process of naturalization, but it’s so rigid that it offers plenty of room for discrimination.
Go begins during Sugihara’s days in a Korean-Japanese middle school. After speaking Japanese in a classroom strictly conducted only in Korean, Sugihara is a branded as a race traitor. As a result, he shifts his “citizenship” from North Korean to South Korean, changes his first name to a pseudonym, and transfers to a Japanese high school. Despite his alteration of environment, not much else is different for him. He still breaks into bouts of trouble and fights his classmates from time to time.
Despite beginning a relationship with a girl named Sakurai (Kou Shibasaki)-under the guise of a Japanese citizen-things change for the worse when Sugihara’s best friend from Korean school is murdered in a subway. Sugihara breaks down for the first time in the movie. His friend, Jog-Il, was his sole classmate from his previous school to approve of his attempt to blend into society.
The acting within this film is well done as far as my theatrical palette is concerned. Shibasaki does a good job of playing a pristinely sweet girl in contrast to her more seductively psychotic performance in Battle Royale. Kubozuka aptly depicts a confused punk-it’s difficult not to feel moved when he vents over his frustrated identity at the end of the film. My only complaint with the movie’s presentation is that the pronunciation of the Korean dialogue is inaccurate. I can’t even speak Korean and my phonetic recognition of it is keen enough to realize this.
The movie intermittently cuts to flashbacks, potentially confusing the audience with its lack of linearity. The film also focuses more on individual discrimination rather than racism on an institutional or societal level. However, with these two qualms aside, Go is probably one of the most unique movies coming from Japan. The experiences it depicts are relatively unknown outside of Japan.
This movie is one of those hidden gems that only a few are fortunate enough to find. Despite winning 10 Awards from the Japanese Academy, including a nomination for best picture, an official English translation of the book or the film hasn’t seen the light of day. Region-free Chinese and Japanese DVDs have a shoddy, but passable English translation.
Nonetheless, if there is any Japanese movie worth watching, it’s definitely this one.
This article has been archived, for more requests please contact us via the support system.
