Kaiji Moriyama
‘My dad saw a monster here. When he was a kid.’ · ‘A monster?’ · ‘Yeah, a monster. It moves between this world and the next.’ Ao lives with his mother and little sister Kii on Sado Island in Japan. He misses his father, who recently disappeared without a trace – although not much is spoken about it. While their mother tries to deal with the loss in her own way, Ao and Kii run across the island and scream at the ocean. In the mysterious Sayoko, who inconspicuously swipes books from the school library, Ao finds a confidant. Few words are needed between the two reticent, dreamy children: together, they at once feel less alone. Against the striking backdrop of an industrialised coastal town, Tetsuya Tomina's poetic film tells a tale of dreams, loss and monsters.
The main concept of the film is “tamatama,” which means “by chance.” Aoi plays a young woman who travels to Ireland, and the fantasy story depicts her life there as she encounters different people and places, resulting in occasional “miracles.” The film is the debut film from TV commercial director Komatsu Mayumi. The entire film was shot in the beautiful Irish, with sigur ros’ songs for its soundtrack.
Mars Canal - Within absolute silence, a naked man wanders through a dark and depressing landscape recalling the excruciating details of his last encounter with his former lover. Mirror Hell - When a series of women are discovered with their faces burnt and skulls charred, a young detective investigates, discovering that a unique hand mirror is always found at the scene. Caterpillar - A war hero returns home with no limbs and only his eyesight remaining. His beautiful wife, tired of taking care of him, turns to torturing her crippled husband for amusement. Crawling Bugs - A sexy actress is returning home from a successful night on stage, until her limo driver decides that she should be coming home with him.
A spell of time in the life of a family living in rural Tochigi prefecture, north of Tokyo. Though her husband is busy working at an office, Yoshiko is not an ordinary housewife, instead working on an animated film project at home. Uncle Ayano has recently arrived, looking to get his head together after living in Tokyo for several years. Meanwhile, Yoshiko's daughter Sachiko is mainly concerned with why she seems to be followed around everywhere by a giant version of herself.
