Ryo Sato

Thailand, 1941 — a handful of Japanese soldiers and their prisoners are trapped in a cursed mine. As tensions between enemies reach a breaking point, they are forced to confront a terrifying, ancient monster lurking in the shadows.

Hamaguchi wrote and directed this film as a graduation project for the students at ENBU Seminar (film and theater school in Tokyo) when he taught there. It is a three-part film: The first part is a documentary-style production of a play; Then the actual full stage production of the play; and the epilogue. Poetry and written words play the central role in the movie.

Satellite-city resident Yayoi feels like her days spent on the train commuting to school are filled with emptiness. One day she encounters a ghost-like guy and Zaningen's music, and her boring life starts to change.