Japanese provocateur Sono Sion (Love Exposure) shot this radical tale of teen rage in post-tsunami landscapes. “A near-masterpiece from one of the most significant Japanese directors working today.” — Little White Lies
A near-masterpiece from one of the most significant Japanese directors working today.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2012
Himizu 2011
Japanese provocateur Sono Sion (Love Exposure) was adapting a popular manga when the 2011 tsunami struck. He hastily reframed its typical tale of teen rage for the post-disaster world. Yuchi, the young anti-hero, disgusted by school and parents, cruelly indifferent to the kooky girl who adores him, now finds intermittent motivation in harbouring a ragged band of disaster victims. Shot on stricken locations, Himizu delivers a feverish panorama of societal decay and psychic desolation.
“Carrying on the fierce and honorable Japanese cinema tradition of the young male existential crisis, Himizu successfully grafts typhoon destitution and nuclear fallout worries onto a lurching, wildly erratic, funny and blisteringly painful adolescent drama… Its every frame is utterly wracked with the grim threat of emptiness around everyone, and it answers this world state with enviable energetic frenzy.” — Daniel Kasman, Mubi.com