Noh mask maker is unable to carve the young Noh masks he has ordered, and when a beautiful woman invites him to join her in town for a change of pace, he has a mysterious experience, which may be a dream or reality. The film "Genjitsu" (幻日) was completed in the autumn of 1966, but has not been shown to the public. Adapted from Soseki Natsume's novel "Ten Nights of Dreams" with experimental music by Joji Yuasa, the film was long considered lost but re-surfaced in 2017 and was shown for the first time at Kobe Planet Film Archive.
Dec 1966
A boy has been aware of the presence of a girl beside him since he was a child. However, he does not know who she is. One day, a nuclear missile is accidentally launched at Japan. The children play innocently as if they have no idea of the fate that will happen in a few hours. Then the boy meets the girl again... The film tackles the heavy theme of nuclear fear, but instead of shouting hysterically against nuclear weapons as in previous works, it speaks poetically and dreamily. It is a requiem for children who have never known war to continue to be a generation that has never known war.
Jan 1990
