Yaji and Kita: The Midnight Pilgrims

Yaji (Nagase) and Kita (Nakamura) are unemployed samurai and, as they tell a passing stranger, “two homos madly in love.” Ostensibly set during the Edo period but incorporating hip-hop, motorcycles and other modern trappings, Yaji and Kita tells a vague story involving Kita’s battle with drug addiction, employing elements of slapstick, music video, Godardian self-reflexiveness and just about anything else you can think of. The movie strives to be lighthearted and fun, but the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach quickly grows tedious, and the film eventually succumbs to its seemingly interminable length. (Opens Fri; Cinema Village.) — Joshua Land