Charisma

After a hostage situation ends in tragedy, detective Goro takes a forced leave of absence. Consumed by his guilt, he wanders off into an isolated forest full of ailing trees and polluted creaks. Upon reaching a clearing dominated by a mysterious tree (the titular Charisma), he witnesses a battle around this rare and dangerous specimen, which seems to poison everything in its vicinity.

After a hostage situation ends in tragedy, detective Goro takes a forced leave of absence. Consumed by his guilt, he wanders off into an isolated forest full of ailing trees and polluted creaks. Upon reaching a clearing dominated by a mysterious tree (the titular Charisma), he witnesses a battle around this rare and dangerous specimen, which seems to poison everything in its vicinity. Some try to protect it, some try to destroy it, while others try to make money off it. Goro will soon have to take sides in this violent dispute: is Charisma a threat for the ecosystem or is it simply a victim of human obsession? Walking the fine line between a puzzling ecological thriller and an otherworldly allegory on the disintegration of contemporary society, this bizarre hybrid refuses to be pigeonholed into any one category. Its ominous atmosphere and existentialist agenda however attest to the twisted genius of Kiyoshi Kurosawa, the man who single-handedly breathed new life into J-horror. Th.P.

Original title: Karisuma

Σκηνοθεσία / Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Σενάριο / Screenwriter: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Φωτογραφία / DoP: Junichiro Hayashi

Μουσική / Music: Ashiya Gary

Μοντάζ / Editor: Jun'ichi Kikuchi

Ηθοποιοί / Principal Cast: Kôji Yakusho, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, Jun Fubuki

Ιαπωνία / Japan

1999

Εγχρωμο / Color

103'

Ιαπωνικά / Japanese