To The Moon And Back by Eliana Ramage

This is a book that is one of Reese Witherspoon’s book of the month choices and I have been slowly but surely reading my way through those. This one I found to be a little confusing period I read it over several weeks so in bits and pieces and that may have been a contributing factor. In the end I was glad that I read it especially when you consider um that there are very few Native American authors writing fiction. Thirteen-year-old Steph Harper knows she is different from her friends and classmates living in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, in 1995. Determined to be an astronaut, she notes, “I only had about a decade or so to rid myself of every fear I had left,” replacing them with what NASA calls “awareness and preparedness and disaster response protocol.” Steph’s single-minded drive forms the heart of a drama that unfolds from those teen years through 2027 while deftly exploring Cherokee identity, queer love and the price of ambition. Steph’s father, whom she, her mother and younger sister Kayla fled eight years ago, instilled in her a love of space while warning her about the end of the world. Those mixed emotions and strengths end up dictating the course of Steph’s life in wildly unpredictable ways, especially when endless obstacles seem to stand in her way. She is surprised to fall in love with a Cherokee college classmate, Della Owens, who as a baby was adopted and raised by a Mormon couple, and, after a highly public custody battle, allowed only one day of visitation a year with her birth father. While Della fully embraces her Cherokee heritage, Steph focuses on escaping to space.

No Other Choice (2025)

This Korean film was short listed for the 2026 Academy Awards in the Foreign Language category, and in my mind the Koreans can give the Danes a run for their money when it comes to dark dark comedy. It does not get bleaker than this. It opens in happier times for Man-su and his family, including a supportive wife, Lee Mi-ri, two beautiful children, Si-one and Ri-one, and two gorgeous dogs. As they celebrate their perfect lives outside of their perfect home, storm clouds appear on the horizon. The symbol becomes real when Man-su is downsized from his paper company, forced back into a brutal job market. Man-su realizes that the only way to beat the competition for the job he wants is for them to be unable to apply for it, so he puts in motion a series of plans to literally eliminate his competition. What starts as relatively playful and almost silly, a tone enriched by Lee’s layered performance that mingles Man-su’s desperation, intelligence, and broken pride, eventually gets much darker, but also angry, a commentary on what happens when fragile masculinity is fractured by corporate greed. Something has to give. And it does. This did not make the final cut to be nominated, but it is well worth seeking out.

A Witch's Guide To Magical Inn Keeping by Sangu Mandanna

This is not my typical genre of book, but one of the multiple things that I like to do as a reader is to read somewhere around half of the New York Times 100 Notable Books each year. They are about half fiction and poetry, half non-fiction, and while I mine the list for non-fiction ideas (I need the help in that arena, and try to read at least some no-fiction, even though it is not my first love), I tend to read more fiction. In any case, that is where I found this, which I would call a cosy, romance fanatsy. Sera Swan used to be a magical prodigy—Guild golden girl, full of promise—until she did the unthinkable: resurrected her great-aunt Jasmine (and, accidentally, a rooster). The Guild exiled her, stripped her magic, and left her to piece her life together. Fifteen years later, she’s running a magical inn that only appears to people who need it, surrounded by an oddball mix of humans and magical misfits. Then Luke Larsen, a prickly magical historian, shows up with his little sister Posy. Luke might just have the key to restoring Sera’s magic—if she can convince him to help without attracting the Guild’s attention. What follows is equal parts mystery, magical hijinks, and slow-burn partnership between two stubborn people who are much better at helping others than accepting help themselves. It all works out in the end with a few bumps along the way and while adequately charming, it did not win me over to the genre.

Nuremburg (2025)

There are countless variations of the saying “history repeats itself.” Nuremberg is a movie that wants us to remember. The story revisits the final days of World War II and the Nuremberg trials. The movie begins with Göring attempting to flee at the end of the war before being captured by Allied forces. We see him, along with other leading figures from Hitler’s inner circle, taken into custody. Douglas Kelly, played by Rami Malek, is brought in to create psychological profiles of these men. In the background is the effort of Justice Robert Jackson, played by Michael Shannon, who believes these men must stand trial for their crimes. He argues that they should not simply be executed. There must also be a public accounting for the horrors carried out in the name of the Third Reich. It is interesting that they brought a psyc Russell Crowe’s Göring is charming to the point of being almost disarming. We watch the two men talk and probe one another. Kelly is writing a book about what he is learning from Göring and the others. His questions cut to the heart of how such atrocities came to be. When Kelly asks why he followed Hitler, Göring describes a devastated Germany after World War I, a nation humiliated and made to suffer. Hitler told them that foreign powers were feasting on their pain and promised that Germany could reclaim its former glory. He made them feel proud again. Kelly’s obsession with Göring becomes his downfall, costing him his position, but not before Göring is put on trial. We watch Göring skillfully maneuver through Jackson’s questioning. Despite its flaws, there is something worthwhile in Vanderbilt’s attempt. Kelly eventually wrote his book. It revealed that what occurred in Germany could happen anywhere. The perpetrators of Nazi crimes were ordinary people who embraced a message that told them walking over the bodies of others was worth obtaining power. No one wanted to hear thst warning, and here we are, back at the beginning again.

Last Train To Memphis by Peter Guralnick

Ok, first off, if you are looking for a book about Elvis the man, you are not going to be happy with this. While it is densely researched, it ends in the late 1950's--it really is about how it all got started . It is based on hundreds of interviews and nearly a decade of research, it traces the evolution not just of the man but of the music and of the culture he left utterly transformed, creating a completely fresh portrait of Elvis and his world. This volume tracks the first twenty-four years of Elvis’ life, covering his childhood, the stunning first recordings at Sun Records (“That’s All Right,” “Mystery Train”), and the early RCA hits (“Heartbreak Hotel,” “Hound Dog,” “Don’t Be Cruel”). There’s more to this book than Elvis. It’s also the story of the American music industry in the 1950s. There is alot about how music was made and marketed at that time, and how rock n roll changed it. It wasn’t just about the sound but about how the music was actually sold. For example, how going on near-constant tour to small music venues was considered the best way to market yourself. The chapters about how Elvis’s manager, the Colonel, got him onto television and how television really started to change the music industry were fascinating. I heard and read a lot of the very bad things about the Colonel. This book really brought to light the why. The Colonel may have taken a much larger percent (25%) than was usual (10%), but he also had a great business mind and really got things done. It was the Colonel who got Elvis on television and in the movies. I’d always thought the Colonel pushed Elvis into the movies but this book showed from its extensive interviews that Elvis himself was quite interested in being like James Dean. The relationship, at least at the beginning, was a lot more give and take, and then inevitably it deteriorated, as did they.

Hamnet (2025)

Chloé Zhao is a master at translating a book into a movie. I was very impressed with her adaptation of Nomadland and this is even more impressive. Maggie O'Farrell's book comes to life in this movie in a in a beautiful and cinematic way. I don't often say this but while I loved the book the movie was more emotionally on target. In addition to being a visually stunning, emotionally devastating movie it is also a deeply sensorial exploration of grief, anchored by exceptional performances from Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal. This is the story of William Shakespeare at home. This comes from a work of fiction but attempts to explain both Shakespeare's attraction to a woman who is uneducated as well as to hypothesize the egis for his one of his greatest plays. Agnes, is the daughter of a forest witch, and her connection to the earth, the trees, and the sky feels tangible and powerful. She meets Will --who will eventually turn out to be The Bard—their connection feels just as alive and free. They frolic and flirt joyfully, and the qualities that make her an outcast to everyone else make her wonderful to him. In no time, they’re married, then have a daughter named Susanna, and then twins: a boy and a girl, Hamnet and Judith. They have a blissful home life when Shakespeare is home and this is shattered when Hamnet dies. The grief that they that he experiences leads to the tragic play Hamlet.

Missed and Loved by Susie Boyt

This is another one of the “it's Friday and if you haven't read this it's new to you” book recommendations. This is the story of basically getting a do over in life. Ruth is a woman who believes in and despairs of the curative power of love. Her daughter, Eleanor, who is addicted to drugs, has just had a baby, Lily. Ruth adjusts herself in ways large and small to give to Eleanor what she thinks she may need—nourishment, distance, affection—but all her gifts and interventions fall well short. Eleanor an her partner are heavily using as well as largely ignoring their baby. After someone dies of an overdose in Eleanor's apartment building , Ruth hands her daughter an envelope of cash and takes Lily home with her, and Lily, as she grows, proves a compensation for all of Ruth's past defeats and disappointment. Love without fear is a new feeling for her, almost unrecognizable. Not everything goes perfectly well but it goes well enough and that is just perfect for Ruth. I really enjoyed this book and it is on the short side, something that can be read in an afternoon or two.

Last Days On Lake Trinity (2025)

This short documentary was shortlisted in that category for this for the 2026 Academy Awards. South Florida is facing a housing crisis, and that is one focus that this documentary brings to light. In March of 2022, Trinity Broadcasting Network, who owned the land, informed residents of Lakeside Park Estates that they had until December 31, 2022 to move out. Cooley centers on three women–Nancy Sanderson, Laurie Laney, and Nancy Fleishman–as they begin their hunt for another place to live after, it appears, that the county cannot combat TBN’s order. There are three things that I noticed watching rather than listening to this story. The 1st is that the place that they have which is waterfront is very beautiful and would be very hard to replicate. The second is that the mobile homes that these women live in are well beyond their sell by date. They are living in conditions that would be condemned I believe and then the third is that they have very few financial options and so this is a story of David and Goliath where the corporation holds all the cards. At the beginning of the film, Laney tells us that her first big purchase was her mobile home, but the real sense of belonging came within the community of Lakeside. Community and the collective experience is at the heart of Trinity. Fleishman worked off and on for TBN for years, and the silence from the company is troubling, especially when she calls to speak to someone about following up on the help they allegedly said they would provide.

Throwback by Maureen Go

I picked this up because it is a YA pick for Reese’s book club and I have very much enjoyed her selections. Priscilla, a first-generation Korean American and former high school cheerleader, expects her daughter, Sam, to pursue the All-American dream. But Sam isn't interested in the clichéd high school experience; she's a modern Gen Z teen. After a huge argument, Sam is transported back to the '90s alongside a 17-year-old Priscilla. It may be a bit contrived, bed but this time-travel tale brilliantly explores family, identity, and the immigrant experience making it a must-read for teens. There are plenty of LOL-worthy moments as Sam tries to navigate the '90s. However, the most poignant moments occur when Sam realizes how casual racism, cultural differences, and the pressure to meet Halmoni, Sam’s grandmother, and see how her expectations have shaped Priscilla into who she is today. I didn't enjoy this as much as others that I have read in the past but I would read another book by this author and I did like the time travel aspect in retrospect even though I found it odd at when I was reading it.

If I Had Legs I Would Kick You (2025)

I watched this movie because the actress was nominated for an Academy Award. It is about the unraveling of Linda, a wry, worn-down mother and therapist played magnificently and unflinchingly by Rose Byrne. I 100% agree with the award going to Jesse Buckley for her work in Hamnet which was incredible but Rose Byrne was my second choice. Like unbandaging a cut too soon, leaving it oozing and throbbing, a red gash for the world to see that you clearly lack self-control, Linda seriously struggles to juggle the mysterious illness of her daughter and the sudden collapse of her literal and metaphorical ceiling, leaving her with no pillars to support her. There are some very smart things that are said in this movie about shame and hiding things. It's a cautionary tale to do neither. It is better to RIP off the Band-Aid than to leave things unattended to for literally everyone’s sake. Ane lest you think it would take months for things to get this bad, as a mental health professional myself, it can all go bad in a blink of an eye.

The True True Story of Raja the Gullible by Rabih Alameddine

I picked up this book because it won the National Book Award and interestingly was not listed by the New York Times in their hundred notable books for 2025. I have read one book by this author previously and I have to say upon reflection this book is nothing like that one and yet it they are both equally enjoyable. It takes place in a tiny Beirut apartment, where sixty-three-year-old Raja and his mother live side by side. He is both a beloved high school philosophy teacher and "the neighborhood homosexual", his words. Raja relishes books, meditative walks, order, and solitude. Zalfa, his octogenarian mother, views her son's desire for privacy as a personal affront. She demands to know every detail of Raja's work life and love life, boundaries be damned. Mother and son are both equally irritating as well as entertaining. When Raja receives an invite to an all-expenses-paid writing residency in America, the timing couldn't be better. It arrives on the heels of a series of personal and national disasters that have left Raja longing for peace and quiet away from his mother and the heartache of Lebanon. But what at first seems a stroke of good fortune soon leads Raja to recount and relive the very disasters and past betrayals he wishes to forget. With little left unsaid between the sharp-tongued mother and her self-aware son, humor and poignance bring their challenges — close living quarters, difficult family members, financial turmoil, and wartime trauma — into bittersweet perspective. In summary this is a vivid story set in Beirut over six decades, that juxtaposes life changing moments from a gay man’s coming of age with the upheaval of a city in perpetual strife.

The Three Sisters (2025)

There are two stories here for this short animated film that was nominated in that category for the 2026 Academy Awards. The first is the story itself, told in 2-D animation and perhaps the most whimsical and weird of the five nominees. It imagines the isolated life on an island shared by three sisters when a stranger arrives and changes their day-to-day in unexpected ways. He's a burly sailor and, well, these ladies have been living alone for quite some time, so they find themselves each drawn to him, changing their appearance and doting on him in ways they haven't had a reason to before. It is without dialogue but with plenty of expressive animation, we come to appreciate these three sisters and their desire for more on this little island of theirs. Our dashing interloper is just that, however, and as the women have to face reality, it could be we're all headed for heartbreak. The second is that the film was submitted under a fictional name. Russian animation director Konstantin Bronzit, who is a celebrated animator from a shunned country may have been seeing if quality is identified or he may have feared he would have been side lines based on his country of origin. Afterall, if there is an anti-Russian documentary on offer, it is more likely than not to win, so he may have a point. In any case, he outed himself before the awards, and this was not a winner--nor was it my first or second choice.

Valiant Ambition by Nathaniel Philbrick

In the vein of "possibly more than you could possibly want to know about a particular person" and yet also learn very close to nothing at all about a subject, this would be the book for you. The biggest surprise for anyone who picks up this book is that surprisingly little of it describes the interactions between Washington and Arnold, despite the subtitle. Apparently they weren’t that frequent and the two men have very little contact during the first half of the book. Unfortunately for me and anyone who is less than interested meticulously researched historical pageants describing battle after battle in the Revolutionary War, maps and all, there is an abundance of this and not much in the way of summation or analysis. The author is sympathetic to Arnold's plight, cognizant of his short comings and does a good job drawing an understandable and believable picture of what went right and what went very wrong for him as the war progressed. As to the fate of the American Revolution, there are a number of statements in the prologue that are not backed up within the book, at least to my ear, and overall I was disappointed. I did just read Richard Atkinson's 'The Fate of the Day", which is a far better chronicle of much of this time, so hindered by that. Do not be daunted by the length of the book--close to half the total pages come after the epilogue. I was reading an e-book, and had to reassure myself it would not last the full 500+ pages.

Viva Verdi! (2024)

This documentary has a song that was nominated for Best Song in the 2026 Academy Awards--which it did not win, but I liked the song far more than the winner. This is a documentary which follows the lives of artists after their careers end but not before their lives end. Situated in Milan, the cradle of art, retired opera singers and musicians live together in harmony at Casa Verdi, a neo-Gothic sanctuary commissioned by Giuseppe Verdi in 1898 to honor artists who devoted their lives to music and the arts. The documentary opens to the soaring strains of La Traviata, the curtains opening to a quotation that captures the spirit of a compassionate humanist devoted music lover: “Among my works, the one I like best is the Home that I’ve built in Milan for accommodating old singers not favored by fortune.” The premise of his deed was simple: during Verdi’s time, there were no pensions for artists; they were sadly left to their own devices. Devoting one’s life to art was therefore a courageous choice, reliant on hard work and luck, and Verdi sought to host all of those who had dared to follow their artistic passions. The cinematography in Viva Verdi! is both intimate and evocative, capturing the soul of Casa Verdi and its residents with a painterly touch. This visual approach creates a warm and immersive atmosphere that reflects the enduring and unifying brilliance of music, shared across generations. Through their personal stories, we traverse time, theaters, countries, and librettos. A wide range of nationalities mingle in Casa Verdi, telling intimate chronicles marked by success and ovations, disappointments, loss, and discrimination. Most of all, the film shows how a love for music and performing does not end when the paychecks cease. Even though most of the performers in the film have died by the time it came out, you can see that they were engaged in activies they loved to the end.

Ramble

This is month three of the Ramble quilt block of the month club. I have really been enjoying Tara Faughnan's instructional videos that go along with this. She is a great teacher, and having taken an in person class with her, heard her key note lecture at QuiltCon, as well as doing this BOM, her personality comes through and that is a good thing. I love the design, and I also love that it is a gentle skill builder. I believe it is billed as an intermediate pattern, and it is I think confident beginner friendly. The end result is more pleasing to me than her quilt Transverse, which was her last sew along. She points out in the first video that a medallion quilt has some risks associated with it, the first of which is that it is a medallion quilt, so with each layer outward there is a risk that it won't fit. Then she shows you the differences that occur if you sew an exact 1/4" and a scant 1/4" seam, if you press the seams open or to the side, and how quickly those differences add up when you are building in ever increasing outward layers. So the design has some fudge built in to it to allow for that. What a great idea! Then there is the fabric--I find the need for so many colors to be over kill, but then that is what she is known for--the colors. So maybe all is forgiven except that it is hard to sort and tag them all, and I am positive that by the end there will be design modifications. Already by month three I have some adjustments that have occurred, and the truth be told, I am not that great at following directions, and her written directions are a bit on the sparse side, so that is a perfect storm waiting to happen. The fabric is from the Windham Artisan fabric line, which has different colored threads in the warp and the weft, which gives it a beautiful depth and feel for a "solid", mostly because it isn't quite that, but oh my goodness, the fraying. If that drives you crazy, pick a different facbric. I have been sewing with Art Gallery Fabric Solids and they are so much the opposite of that! In any case, this is a bright, fun, and not too hard quilt that I am enjoying putting together, and hanging out virtually and not in real time with Tara Faughnan is icing on the top.

The Girl Who Cried Pearls (2025)

Pearls are created by animals and are both precious and beautiful. They have been called mermaid's tears--the myths that surround them are the start of this short animated film from Canada that won the Academy Award in 2026 in that category. This story is told by an old man to his granddaughter, who has an eye for shiny things and who we suppose has pocketed a precious pearl herself. The story begins in his youth in Montreal, when he was a hungry orphan scavenging for food by the docks and sleeping in abandoned buildings. If one could find such a residence adjacent to one that was occupied, he explains, one might feel the heat of the fire through the wall. Naturally, sitting against the wall meant one might also hear what was going on in a house, and he talks about the time when he heard a stepmother repeatedly abusing a lonely girl. At night the girl would cry, and peering through a hole, he saw her tears, made of the purest sorrow, turn to pearls. Acquiring some of these, he took them to a pawnbroker and was paid better than he had ever been before. To get more, however, he was faced with a terrible dilemma--her unhappiness led to wealth for him, and what should he hope for? It is a classic tale of greed, the power of poverty to drive poor decisions, and a surprise ending.

Island Storm by Brian Floca and Sydney Smith

This is a picture book about a storm rolling in, building momentum to a maximum crescendo, and then gradually ebbing. The author was inspired by a storm that he experienced on one of the many islands off the coast of Maine, but it has the look and feel of a Midwest storm as well, where you can see it, feel it, and smell it brewing. The sky changes color in the blink of an eye, the atmosphere crackles with electricity, the rain tumbles down with ferocity, and the sky is black. And then just as suddenly it ebbs and within an hour the sun is out again. This is about two children who sense that beginning to happen and they purposely go out into it. The illustrations for this are spectacular, and while the author is a gifted illustrator himself, he opted for another, and these illustrations really hit the mark. It is a really well done picture book.

Diane Warren: Relentless (2025)

This documentary was nominated in the category of Best Song for the 2026 Academy Awards. It is about Diane Warren, who I had never heard of, but that is on me because she is a powerhouse in the musical world. She is sixteen-time Academy Award nominee songwriter--though never a winner, she has done quality work for movies. She’s written for more than four hundred and fifty recording artists--she started writing songs when she was a child and by adulthood she was pushing artists to consider singing her songs. She really was relentless in her pursuit of the perfect performer to showcase her work, and that persistence paid of for everyone. She’s penned nine number-one songs and had thirty-three songs on the Billboard Hot 100. Who is she? She is a loner and never married. She is stuck in her ways; for example, she writes in the same room she has from the beginning. She ownss her childhood home at least partly because it is where she started writing. SHe trusts the same people she has known for her whole life. She is set in her ways and it has served her well. Those hoping to walk away with a greater understanding of her prolific outputcommensurate with her success will do so empty-handed, though not without having been entertained.

Best Dressed by Dawn Yanagihara

I saw this at the house of a friend who was on the verge of expanding the dining options in their coffeeshop to include some sort of salad, and she chose this book as the point of inspiration. On top of that, I was about mid-way through reading Samin Nosrat's new cookbook, Good Things, which has some of the same principles, which is get a well balanced and interesting flavored dressing, and then you can use it for a number of different things--like salad greens of course, but also salads with beans, salads with grains, and also over variously cooked vegetables. I am not where I would love to be with my cooking and this concept, despite my advanced age, and I am going to try to make 2026 the year I take a noticable step forward making progress in this arena. I think this paired with Good Things may be the magic sause that makes that happen--and also maybe buying the specific ingredients for a few recipes so that I do not start off with making due.

Chasing Time (2025)

This short documentary was short listed for an Academy award in 2026, and while it did not make the final list, it is an excellent documentary all the same. Back in 2012, Jeff Orlowski documented famed photographer James Balog as he setup his Extreme Ice Survey, a series of remote cameras set to record the immediate effect of climate change on the world’s glaciers. With stunning visuals and pioneering use of time-elapsed photography, Chasing Ice served as direct evidence of the warming of the planet. Images showed millennia-old ice sheets radically transforming over just a few years, contributing to the rise of sea levels, and making manifest the way the world is undergoing fundamental transformation due to environmental changes. This film is slightly more philosophical and ruminative. Directed in collaboration with Sarah Keo, the film sees Jeff and James return to Jakobshavn Glacier to remove the camera and close a chapter in both their work and their relationship. It’s a touching film about mentor and mentee, and manages in its compact running time to provide a rich portrait of their collaboration, additional stunning views of their otherworldly locations, and an even more open-eyed look at the catastrophic changes that have occurred over the last decades in this majestic environ. It is all set in motion by James’ cancer diagnosis, which makes him aware of his own limited time frame. The story and the photography are both beautiful.

Mother Mary Comes To Me by Arundhati Roy

This is a very raw memoir written by an author who knows how to tell a story. She left home the moment she reached legal age and never went back. She is here to tell you why. She was born in Shillong in northeastern India to a Bengali Christian father who worked on the tea plantation, and a Malayali mother. Her father was a ne'er do well, and her mother moved to Kerala via Assam and Ooty with her and her older brother, Lalith, when her parents separated. It was a a precarious, nomadic life, living with relatives, and describes taking shelter in her maternal grandfather’s cottage in Tamil Nadu, only to be thrown out because of the property laws of the state, which did not afford daughters inheritance rights. Her mother was a teacher and she demanded even her own children call her Mrs. Roy. She starts a school that grows into a renowned institution where she models her own brand of feminism, unflinchingly confronting matters of gender and sexuality. Mrs Roy challenges the inheritance laws in the Syrian Christian community, suing her brother to obtain an equal share of her father’s estate, and wins the case Mary Roy Etc vs State of Kerala and Others, heard by the Supreme Court of India in 1986. She is sharp, restless and charismatic, a visionary ruling with an iron fist. But in her rage against the patriarchy, she also lashes out at her children. She berates her childrean for the tiniest of foibles and humiliates them in public. She was fearless in her public life but made life miserable for her children, which was confusing and damaging for them. This is unflinching in its subtle but persuasive rant against perpetuating a society that leaves women as second class citizens.

Kokuho (2025)

This film is nominated in the category of Make Up for the 2026 Academy Awards, and it was short listed for Best International Movie. It is set in and around the world of Kabuki, the 400-year-old theatrical form that lies near the heart of Japanese culture. Spanning half a century and running close to three hours, this quiet epic is the top-grossing Japanese live action film of all time. When we first meet the hero, Kikuo, he's 14 and playing a female role in an excerpt from a famous Kabuki play. (Men play all the roles in Kabuki.) His performance is seen by a Kabuki star, Hanai who's impressed by his talent. When Kikuo's yakuza father is murdered by a rival gang, Hanai takes him in as a protégé, teaching him to become an onnagata — a male actor who plays female roles. There is one snag. Hanai already has a son of the same age, Shunsuke, who is slated to be his artistic heir, and, in the Kabuki world, artistic status passes from father to son. The story of what transpires between Kikuo and Shunsuke a compelling story about friendship, the weight of history, the quest for perfection and the torturous road to becoming a living national treasure — which is what the word "kokuho" means. Spanning their lives, it also is a portrait of post WWII 20th century Japan, where ideas about birth and cultural inheritance, which seem quite dated. Then in Kikuo's struggle to become Japan's greatest Kabuki actor, we feel the chilly isolation of devoting yourself to an art form so demanding that it leaves little room for ordinary human connectionanything else--his connection with Shunsuke is the closest thing he has to an ordinary relationship. This is lush and gorgeous, all the while having a creepy undercurrent. Don't miss it.