HIFF Review: ‘The Castle of Crossed Destinies’

The Shogun, right, is female in "The Castle of Crossed Destinies," which makes its world premiere at HIFF this year. (Courtesy HIFF)

REVIEW BY BETTY SHIMABUKURO / betty@staradvertiser.com

This is one strange little movie. It’s trying to be a big movie, cinematically with its majestic shots of castle halls; thematically with its premise of a female shogun trying to live up to the duties of her office.

In the end, though, this is just a strange little soap opera, no better than a very sudsy television drama, and every bit as overwrought.

Our lady shogun, Tokuko, is planted in 17th-century Edo, where the male population has been decimated by disease, leaving the women in charge. Tokuko has a stable of concubines who exist to service her in the hope of producing an heir. Honor falls to the man who can plant the seed, or to the court faction that can produce the man who can plant the seed.

This could be interesting, but sadly it is not. Perhaps if we saw Tokuko actually doing some governing, or struggling with the agonies of duty vs. love. Instead we get hints of court intrigue and much angst. The film can’t even generate much prurient interest, as the lovemaking scenes are staid and clunky.

The film’s Japanese title is “O-oku, Eien,” O-oku being the shogun’s inner palace. The English name matches the title of a 15th-century Italian fantasy novel that has something to do with tarot cards. Is there a connection? I don’t know. It’s just a final strangeness.
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