Nitaboh
Nitaboh
| 21 February 2004 (USA)
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At a young age, Nitaroh is stricken with an illness that leaves him blind. He inherits the shamisen guitar once used by his mother and is taught its basics by a blind travelling shamisen player. In time with the help of friends old and new, he walks the paths that leads to his ultimate fate - that of founder of the Tsugaru style of shamisen play.

Reviews
ChicRawIdol

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Stoutor

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

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BelSports

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

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Leoni Haney

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

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Larry DeGala

Very few recent films come out to engage and educate the audience of a cultural watershed in Japanese music. The animation is beautifully poignant and tastefully done. The period that Nitaboh lives in is very dangerous for juvenile persons with disability. As a blind musician, he is not permitted to join the popular sects in society due to his low status as the son of a boatman. And influential sects begrudged Nitaboh's blossoming talent. He is discriminated against for being blind; he is discriminated against for being poor; and he is discriminated against for playing the shamisen in a nontraditional style. The young upstart's odds of survival was nonexistent from the beginning. The constant pangs of loneliness, personal loss, and an uncertain future hang over the blind child into adulthood, but some great inner strength carries Nitaboh through this very private journey. Few find the courage to love him, and he returns their love with his music. Music is a universal language for all audience, and the triumph of the human spirit is definitely a universal theme one can take to heart from a film crafted with love.

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