Kubi (2023)

I was really looking forward to check on Kubi (首, "Head") (and its Nobunaga) and I finally had the chance to!
This gloomy, hyper-violent and parodic approach to the Sengoku era may bother the most refined of you guys, but I have to admit that, despite the grottesque vibe, it's probaby the most faithful portrait of an historical period where violence and free utilitarism actually ruled the land. The movie is a screen adaptation of the 2009's homonymous novel by Takeshi Kitano, that here acts as producer, scriptwriter, director and, as if this wasn't enough, grants himself the role of the hilarious Hideyoshi, the "peasant" who's going to win the war of wits of his most illustrious competitors.

After a WTF intro that sets immediately the mood of the work with the audience, where we enjoy a vivacious family of crabs frolicking the corpse of a decapitated warrior, the story starts with the disappearance of Araki Murashige (Kenichi Endo) after the fall of his castle, and we got to know "unexpected" sides of his relation with Nobunaga (And Mitsuhide):
"From the moment you're born, life is one big joke!"

"You're such a dear, dear man!"
This portrait of Nobunaga (Ryo Kase) is far from carismatic or inspiring, and our favourite warlord is depicted as nothing more than a vapid, narcissistic asshole that likes to pose as a fatalistic leader who doesn't care about the circumstances of existence, but actually just enjoys random massacres.

His vassals, starting from Hideyoshi, keep up with him because he promised to choose among them his successor, giving that his two sons "are two idiots", or better, actually more idiot than his vassals.
This magic is destroyed when Hideyoshi gets hold of a secret letter to Nobutada, intercepted by ninjas, that reveals that Nobunaga, not only picked his son as his successor already, but also instructed him to get rid of all of his best generals for his personal safety. Thus starts the plot of all the characters involved to get rid of Nobunaga (and their rivals) for the land.
The plot is quite entertaining, and involves a galaxy of minor characters that help portray the ages-- Featuring ninjas acting as prostitutes, farmers dreaming of becoming samurai, killers reinventing themselves as entertainers -- all relished by badly cut heads and a disenchanted population raiding corpses of whoever they could.

In this sense, the execution of the Araki clan ordered by Nobunaga is an excellent example:
"Kyoto - Rokujogawara"
Such a pitiful event is usually portrayed in a overly dramatic tone on film, but here the noble corpses are practically made fun of by the pleb, insensitive to the "punishment" for traitors and focused on the riches they could get from the corpses-- Including those of children and pregnant women's.

The "distaste" we feel during the whole movie is probably the soul of a narrative, sick of showing you how "it was better during the old times" and focusing on the darkness of humanity, how it prospers and enjoys itself during social turmoil.

In this sense, the capricious and vague Nobunaga is the perfect leader for an era gone astray. Critically acclaimed Ryo Kase portrayed a perfect "rotten" Nobunaga, starting from a fastidious tone of voice, the usage of dialect and a facial mimic that stresses the intrinsic ridiculousness of the character, managing to render the terror of the "Demon King" palpable in his incomprehensible coughs of violence or hilarity.

Other members of the Oda clan include Nobutada, here portrayed by Hiroki Nakajima as a not-so-brilliant heir: He's somehow the person that unvoluntarly starts the events in the movie, or their prime victim, as the clash with Murashige happened because Nobunaga forced Nobutada on him for the Setsu campaign, the letter that unmasks Nobunaga's intention was for Nobutada and, ultimately, the short-lived victory of Mitsuhide was somehow affirmed when Nobutada killed himself at Nijo Castle.

Yasuke and Ranmaru complete the picture: Completely submitted to Nobunaga, Ranmaru accepts the morbid attention of his lord gladly; Mitsuhide dislikes him with a passion, so much that when he has to execute people he dresses them up as Ranmarus and Nobunagas, venting his rage on them-- Not sure if out of jealousy, as Murashige once suggested, or because of genuine hatred.
Yasuke is pretty much a "toy" in Nobunaga's hands, showing how sometimes he "prefers him" over Ranmaru. Yasuke also acts as an interpreter for the Catholic priests in Nobunaga's court, showing an unprecedented prevaricating attitude against them, as much as Nobunaga.

The movie grants us a closer look to Azuchi castle, too. I noticed the presence of various globes as decorations. Probably tied to the ambitions of grandeur of our favorite warlord.
--Also, there's no America in those maps, lol

Curiously enough, it's not in Azuchi, but in Chausuyama Castle that we got a new rendition of the famous banquet that Nobunaga offered to Ieyasu (Kaoru Kobayashi), prompted by Mitsuhide: Nobunaga actually ordered Mitsuhide to poison Ieyasu by using his favourite fish meal--! Ieyasu knew better, though, and just pretended to eat the fish.
Nobunaga & Co. tried over and over to kill Ieyasu, but our to-be-Shogun proved an incredible prudence, as comically shown during the movie by his overusage of kagemusha.

This episode, like many others, showed how Kitano grabbed references from kabuki plays and related ukiyo-e by the handful, adapting their humbugs in his grottesque, yet plausible narrative.
The closest comparison coming to mind is the cinematography of Kurosawa or Fellini, intentionally visionary and dreamy, but still rooted in realism to cause discomfort in the audience; Kitano is free from their visual opulence, though, leaving the watcher with a dry, matter-of-fact aftertaste.

As usual I couldn't avoid the bit about Nobunaga costumes: The western armor is a must! It must be noted that Nobunaga wears it only during the Kyoto parade.
Looks like we have another recurring name, in fact Kazuko Kurosawa took care of the costumes in this movie, after Kirin ga kuru.

In the end, we can't miss our usual Nobu-drama climax, the Honnoji Incident!

The scene starts with Atsumori, actually staged by actors, and not performed by Nobunaga during his final moments; here Nobunaga grants us his honest psycho aesthetic prompted by the play:

"To murder every human being in this world in a bloodbath, and in the end to have your own head cut off, would feel like cleansing."

Then Mitsuhide prepars his final act, betraying Murashige and prompting to attack both Nobunaga and Ieyasu, as Honnoji starts burning: In his final moments, Nobunaga quite is eager to give death to his favourites: --But Yasuke has other plans! The head of Nobunaga disappears, giving Mitsuhide no peace of mind-- Reaching from the siege of Takamatsu, Hideyoshi's troops face Mitsuhide's and the Battle of Yamazaki, with the consequences we all know.

In the final scene, it's now Hideyoshi's turn to check on the corpses' heads looking for Mitsuhide's-- Ironically, he recognized the head of the useless Mosuke but not Mitsuhide's, giving it a kick out of frustration, admitting that as long as he knows that his rival is dead, he doesn't care about his head.

On a parting note, a generic fun scene pertaining Nobunaga, Shinzaemon telling a joke to serve Hideyoshi:

"A certain Lordship dies and he goes to hell.
The Devil said, "Tell me what you did when you were alive. Depending on that, I may spare you to go to hell."
The Lord said, "I'm the Sixth Demon King, who sent 20.000 believers of the Jodo Shinshu sect and 2000 Hieizan Temple priests to their deaths."
The devil falls down on his knees and says, "Brother! Please, let me serve you!"

Later on, Shinzaemon had the privilege to get Nobunaga's praise for this little joke, too 😂