Neurosurgeon Koichi uses an experimental technique to enter the brain of his beloved Atsumi, who is in a coma after attempting suicide. In his quest, Koichi drifts steadily further into the sweltering marshes of the spirit. It is soon no longer clear what is real and what is not.
Direction
Kurosawa turns consciousness into claustrophobic geography.
Cinematography
Fog so thick you can taste the humidity of grief.
Acting
Satoh's unraveling sanity in a single frozen stare.
Director
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Kiyoshi Kurosawa adapted this from his own novel, not Rokuro Inui's manga—a rare case of an auteur reverse-engineering his literary work into cinema.
The film's VR technology deliberately evokes early-2000s aesthetics—Kurosawa wanted the 'future' to feel already obsolete, like memory itself.
JP
