Charisma
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Japan,
1999
One of master director Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s most searching films, Charisma is a profoundly surreal allegory concerning the relationship between man and civilization. After a stand-off results in tragedy, hostage negotiator Goro Yabuike (Koji Yakusho) takes a much-needed leave of absence in a remote forest. There, he encounters Charisma—a tree that is parasitically feeding off the surrounding ecosystem—as well as several people vying to control it: a young enthusiast (Hiroyuki Ikeuchi) hoping to protect the strange plant, a botany expert (Jun Fubuki) concerned for the rest of the forest, and a militia hell-bent on obtaining the tree for a collector. Caught among these warring factions, Yabuike must decide whose philosophy of life, death, and survival is worth defending in the name of both nature and society. Evoking personal revelation through atmospheric camera work and compositions, Kurosawa paints a harrowing portrait of the powerful forces competing for the soul of a contemporary Japan torn between the needs of the individual and the demands of the collective.
Details
- 104 min
- Color
- 1.85:1
Formats
- DCP
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