What to watch: ‘Kokuho’ is an old-fashion epic that will sweep you away

“Kokuho,” Japan’s entry for best international film, didn’t make the final cut in one of the most competitive Oscar races of the year. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check out this gorgeous, emotional epic. It tops our list of what to see.

We also check out the drama “Midwinter Break,” the new JFK Jr./Carolyn Bessette limited dramatic series along with a creepy Sophie Turner-Kit Harrington reunion.

Here’s our roundup.

“Kokuho”: From the opening minutes of director Lee Sang-il’s nearly three-hour epic, you grasp why this big-screen event movie has gone on to scale box office heights in Japan, becoming the country’s highest grossing live-action feature. The crowd-pleaser leans artistically into old-school storytelling, of a grand yet intimate scale, and delivers a visual and visceral experience about art replicating life and life replicating art. It’s also a sweeping drama about ambition and division in the world of kabuki, the ancient form of traditional Japanese theater. Based on Shuichi Yoshida’s 2018 novel, it follows the rise and fall and rebirth of Kikuo Tachibana (Ryo Yoshizawa), the striking, talented son of a yakuza (organized crime) member. When his dad is killed in front of him, the hot-tempered 14-year-old enters the folds of the influential Hanai family. Patriarch Hanjiro (Ken Watanabe) is a celebrated kabuki star and he realizes there’s a raw, nascent performer within the youth. (In kabuki, men play the female roles.) Hanjiro pairs Kokuho with his own son, far-less-serious partyer Shunsuke (Ryusei Yokohama) and they endure hours and days of instruction under the tutelage of the hardline Hanjiro. The two perform together, but tension builds when it becomes apparent that the more disciplined Kokuho, whose beauty and timbre makes him not just the ticketholders’ favorite but Hanjiro’s too. Lee and screenwriter Satoko Okudera interweave the drama that develops on and off the stage, accentuating the emotional context of each, with help from the cinematography of Sofian El Fani. But it is in the faces of the two main actors — Yoshizawa and Yokohama — and, of course, Watanabe, who are most responsible for making us feel the sorrow and the loss of the trio. The film’s final act is an unexpected heartbreaker, which makes the story all the more compelling and satisfying. Details: 3½ stars out of 4; opens Feb. 20 in theaters (check for a handful of Feb. 19 screenings).

“Midwinter Break”: Lesley Manville possesses a rare acting super power, the ability to make a one or two facial expressions reveal more than could reams of dialogue about a character’s state of mind. That talent is put to good use, as is a moving performance from actor Ciarán Hind, in stage director Polly Findlay’s somber and somewhat staid feature film debut, an adaptation of Bernard MacLaverty’s 2017 novel. The acting vets portray Stella and Gerry, an Irish couple living in Glasgow whose decades-long marriage has stalled out and grown perfunctory. So the restless Stella (Manville) tries to jazz things up for the couple with a trip to Amsterdam. It couldn’t happen at a more opportune time, since she spent Christmas Eve going to church solo and then coming home to eat sandwiches by herself as Gerry (Hinds), a heavy drinker, snoozes. Their trip takes them to museums, a stroll through the “red light district” and on to a faith-related site. Each encounter provides more context for why this marriage is in trouble. But it’s been in trouble since Stella was pregnant and got caught in the crossfire of the Troubles in Belfast. The most fully realized character in “Midwinter Break” is Stella, someone devoted to her faith — and perhaps for dubious reasons. She’s haunted by a horrifying past incident. Gerry struggles with his own, more present-day, issues, including alcoholism and his overreliance on Stella to meet all his needs. “Midwinter Break” is most satisfying as an actors’ showcase, especially when Manville aces a revelatory monologue that dislodges a long-festering secret that has consumed her and knocked her marriage off course. To match the autumnal mood of this repressed marriage, composer Hannah Peel creates an intimate piano-heavy score that strikes just the right chord. Unfortunately, an end-credit song clashes with the mood of the entire piece. Still, these two actors give performances that would earn standing ovations on stage. In fact, maybe that is where “Midwinter Break” should be performed. Details: 2½ stars; opens Feb. 20 in theaters.

“The Dreadful”: If you thought your mother-in-law could get scary, just wait till you get a gander of Morwen (Marcia Gay Harden), the in-law from hell in director/screenwriter Natasha Kermani’s gothic horror release. It’s centers on a medieval tussle between deluded, pious Morwen, a scrappy conniver who isn’t above stealing and killing to survive, and her daughter-in-law Anne (Sophie Turner), a tortured soul she clings too tightly to, and Anne’s young crush who’s sprouted into handsome brooder Jargo (Kit Harrington). Shot and set in Cornwall, “Dreadful” showcases the rugged, sinister majesty of that landscape along with the grimness of everyday living during the Wars of the Roses in the 15th century. Turner and Harrington’s post-“Game of Thrones” reunion finds them playing lovers and the two work well together, but this is Harden’s scene-chewing film. It’s also a bounce back for Kermani whose previous low-fi horror feature, “Abraham’s Boys,” lacked bite. Nice ending, too. Details: 3 stars; opens Feb. 20 in theaters.

Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette”: FX’s nine-episode series on the ill-fated romance of two picture-perfect icons whose love story played out in the public eye isn’t art by any stretch but my, oh, my is it ever entertaining and well stocked with juicy celebrity scuttlebutt. In addition to its gorgeous lovebirds, JFK Jr. (newcomer Paul Anthony Kelly) and Carolyn Bessette’s (Sarah Pidgeon) and the deets on their sometimes story relationship – we get dish on Calvin Klein (Alessandro Nivola) Daryl Hannah! (Dree Hemingway) – who dated JFK Jr. and comes across as extra spacey– Jackie Kennedy Onassis (Naomi Watts), Ethel Kennedy (Jessica Harper who owns all of her screen time) and the emotionally distant Caroline Kennedy (Grace Gummer) and more. There are snippy (read delicious) oh-my comments about former underwear model Mark Wahlberg as well as a few steamy exchanges with his Calvin Klein billboard successor Michael Bergin (highly charismatic Noah Fernley), the hot guy who caught more than just Carolyn’s eye during her Calvin Klein days.

With its ‘90s-era peppy soundtrack, this glossy production that was “inspired by” Elizabeth Beller’s “Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy” production marks a welcome changeup for omnipresent producer Ryan Murphy (“American Horror Story,” “Monster,” “Feud” and so on) with the executive producer with the Midas touch setting aside carnage and cat fights to turn to matters of the heart. A pleasant change of pace even though “Love Story,” which opens on the fateful 1999 day when JFK Jr., Carolyn and her sister boarded the plane that would crash and kill them all and then flashes back to the start of their relationship, sometimes veers toward the overstated and melodramatic. Case in point, watching Jackie (Watts, who is very good) dancing by herself to the song “Camelot” (emblematic of the charmed but tragic lives of the Kennedy clan). It’s contrived and, in the end, unnecessary.

The series really pops whenever it plunks “outsider” Carolyn – portrayed with magnetism, nuance and an ethereal quality by Pidgeon – at the Kennedy family dinner table “run” by the stern and intimidating Ethel, who makes her feel inferior. Pidgeon makes us want to shrivel in the chair with her after seeing those  withering looks and comments from Ethel. The two actresses have chemistry but the chemistry between Carolyn and Kelly – who looks and talks like JFK Jr. – lacks the passion that the romance between Carolyn and Michael has Perhaps that more subdued spark is due to how stiff JFK Jr. comes off. Maybe that’s Kelly staying in character, but it is halting. “Love Story” is best at showing how damaging and merciless the scrutiny can get for the rich and famous and those thrown into it all without a life vest. It creates disconnect for the couple creates the best scenes but creator Connor Hines realizes the way to the heart of viewers is giving them a lot of name dropping – Annette Bening (an actress plays her in a brief scene), Kate Moss and so on get mentioned and are what really keeps us watching in the same addictive way that we flip through the pages of People magazine while standing in the grocery checkout line. Details: 2½ stars; three episodes already available on FX and Hulu with one episode dropping Thursdays.

“Honey Bunch”: In this  Gothic-leaning psychological horror story, a woman (Grace Glowicki) awakens from a coma and gets taken by her concerned husband (Ben Petrie)  to one of those fog-enshroued, in-the-sticks manors that the average person would run the hell away from the very instant they caught sight of it. There’s good reason to skedaddle too since more than rest and mending are going on inside and out. “Honey Bunch”: does take too long to reveal its diabolical hand and could have used a much tighter running time by Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dust Manicinelli’s disturbed matrimonial skin crawler is a conversation starter for those who like their horror films with a thought-provoking edge to them. This works most of the time and is flush with countless homages to other films and asks big questions about what we would do in desperate situations for those we love. Details: 2½ stars; available on Shudder.

Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com