Blue Boy Trial

Blue Boy Trial

2025 · 106 min · ★ 7.0 · Drama

1960s Japan—economic boom, Olympic pride, and a crackdown on “public morals.” An anti-prostitution law targets women but spares male sex workers, the so-called “blue boys.” When police arrest the doctor performing their sex reassignment surgeries, the sensational “Blue Boy Trial” begins. Three transgender women take the stand, igniting a national debate on identity, medicine, and happiness—long before the language of LGBT existed. Though the court ruled surgery legal, the verdict cast a shadow: no such operations would occur in Japan for 29 years. Half a century later, this buried history still reverberates in the lives of sexual minorities.

Directed by Kashou Iizuka · Written by Yuiko Kato

Your Rating

Where to Watch

Rent or Buy

Apple TV Store

Cast

Trailers & Videos

Make it a double feature

4h together

Blue Boy Trial

Brokeback Mountain

A close match in mood and era.

More from Kashou IizukaSee all →

More Like This

Maybe... Maybe NotMaybe... Maybe Not · 1994
Maybe... Maybe Not
★ 6.31994
MovieComedyDrama
The heterosexual man Axel is thrown out of his girlfriends home for cheating and ends up moving in with a gay man. Axel learns the advantages of living with gay men even though they are attracted to him and when his girlfriend wants him back he must make a tough decision.
Brokeback MountainBrokeback Mountain · 2005
Brokeback Mountain
★ 7.82005
MovieDramaRomance
In 1960s Wyoming, two men develop a strong emotional and sexual relationship that endures as a lifelong connection complicating their lives as they get married and start families of their own.
All About My MotherAll About My Mother · 1999
All About My Mother
★ 7.61999
MovieComedyDrama
Following the tragic death of her teenage son, Manuela travels from Madrid to Barcelona in an attempt to contact the long-estranged father the boy never knew. She reunites with an old friend, an outspoken transgender sex worker, and befriends a troubled actress and a pregnant, HIV-positive nun.
Perfect ObediencePerfect Obedience · 2014
Perfect Obedience
★ 6.52014
MovieDrama
The fictional Father Ángel de la Cruz is based on Legion of Christ founder Marcial Maciel, whose long history of child abuse was not addressed until 2006 and only publicly acknowledged in 2009. But director Luis Urquiza chooses to structure his film through the largely uncomprehending, wondering eyes of 13-year-old Julián, who travels from the arms of his loving pastoral family into the austere, hallowed halls of the seminary. Singling out the boy as his intimate disciple, installing him in his palatial private quarters and redubbing him “Sacramento Santos,” Father Ángel begins Julian’s instruction into the mysteries of “perfect obedience,” whose cardinal rule is: Never question a superior’s actions.
Anatomy of a MurderAnatomy of a Murder · 1959
Anatomy of a Murder
★ 7.81959
MovieCrimeDrama
Semi-retired Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler takes the case of Army Lt. Manion, who murdered a local innkeeper after his wife claimed that he raped her. Over the course of an extensive trial, Biegler parries with District Attorney Lodwick and out-of-town prosecutor Claude Dancer to set his client free, but his case rests on the victim's mysterious business partner, who's hiding a dark secret.
TheoremTheorem · 1968
Theorem
★ 7.01968
MovieMysteryDrama
A wealthy Italian household is turned upside down when a handsome stranger arrives, seduces every family member and then disappears. Each has an epiphany of sorts, but none can figure out who the seductive visitor was or why he came.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter