Radiance | JAPAN CUTS 2018

Radiance
光 (Hikari)

NEW YORK PREMIERE
FEATURE SLATE

Misako Ozaki (Ayame Misaki, Born Bone Born) is enthusiastically learning the craft of creating audio descriptions at a company producing soundtracks for visually impaired cinemagoers. Collaborating with a group of consultants with limited eyesight, she struggles to balance accuracy with space for visual imagination, clashing with Masaya Nakamori (Masatoshi Nagase, Electric Dragon 80.000 V, Mystery Train), a celebrated photographer with deteriorating vision. Together they learn to open their senses to the world around them.

Approaching her subject with characteristic sincerity and sensuality, Naomi Kawase (Sweet Bean, The Mourning Forest) harnesses playful metafilmic devices from documentary style to a film-within-a-film featuring Tatsuya Fuji and Misuzu Kanno. Lensed by photographer Arata Dodo and featuring a vibrant score by Ibrahim Maalouf.

2017. 101 min. DCP, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Naomi Kawase. With Masatoshi Nagase, Ayame Misaki, Chihiro Ohtsuka, Noémie Nakai.

Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, 2017 Cannes Film Festival

Part of JAPAN CUTS 2018.

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[hollow.skull.]

I found this wonderful. The music was not something I expected to grab my attention too much, but it's so wonderfully put into the right scenes, it stands out in the best way. And then the conflicts & romance of the story won my heart, ah, I have a soft spot for this type of romance! Not to mention the appropriate aesthetic of the scenes. I would recommend it, but with the warning that it is not for everyone. Therefore, if you can't catch subtle meanings, aren't very patient, feel bothered by the age gap between them, or anything like that, this film may not be the right one for you. To all others, give it a try. You might like it a little (or a lot). :)

[whocares]

take a close watch. listen. a powerful movie where the silence speaks louder than any words could have.