Nagare, a painter who wanted to commit a lover’s suicide with Mizue, the wife of his friend and patron Takigawa. Growing afraid at the last moment, he doesn’t go through with it – but Mizue sinks to the bottom of Blue Lake. Some time later, Nagare follows an invitation by Takigawa, who claims to have forgiven everything. To Nagare’s shock, Takigawa’s new wife, Ameko, looks exactly like Mizue. While staying as Takigawa’s guest, Nagare becomes haunted by Mizue’s ghost, who wants to be reunited with him at the bottom of Blue Lake.
Direction
Jissoji's Buddhist mysticism meets noir shadows
Cinematography
That lake—liquid death, liquid desire
Acting
Yōko Yamamoto's dual performance is genuinely unheimlich
Director
Akio Jissoji
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Jissoji was a devout Buddhist and this adapts Kyoka Izumi's 1913 novella—shin-hisaku (new weird) literature about possessed women and cursed water.
Made for TV but shot on 35mm—Jissoji used the same lake location for his Ultraman episodes, because cosmic horror and giant monsters share DNA apparently.
No ratings yet
Sign in to join the discussion — comments are spoiler-gated to your watch progress.
Discussion starters
JP
