The Box Man

『箱 男』
Hako Otoko

East Coast Premiere – Featuring Director Gakuryu Ishii In-Person. An appropriately frenetic production chiseled with the punk ethos of Ishii’s early work, The Box Man arrives on the centennial of author Kobo Abe’s birth. One of the most audacious of Abe’s novels, the unfilmable nouveau roman explored vagrancy and identity in a thoroughly experimental effort through the fragmented ramblings of a “box man”—a purposeful outcast who renounces everything (his identity, home, life) to live inside a cardboard box, peering out from within to observe the frightful state of society, invisible to those around him. Masatoshi Nagase stars as “Myself,” a photographer who becomes enraptured by the sight of a box man; however, he quickly falls into the self-fulfilled prophecy dictated by the doctrine of the box man: “Those who obsess over the box man become the box man.” Absurdist, self-aware and characteristically bizarre, Ishii’s voyeuristic rendition of Abe’s seminal novel brings to life all the novel’s formal attributes, now transposed in a similarly meta fashion for the silver screen.

Dir. Gakuryu Ishii, 2024, 120 min., DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Masatoshi Nagase, Tadanobu Asano, Ayana Shiramoto, Koichi Sato.

Part of JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film 2024
July 10—21, 2024

JAPAN CUTS is the largest showcase of contemporary Japanese cinema in North America and an annual highlight of New York’s cinema scene.

Image: ⓒ 2024 The Box Man Film Partners.

Japan Society programs are made possible by leadership support from Booth Ferris Foundation and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Film programs are generously supported by ORIX Corporation USA, public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Anime NYC and Yen Press. Endowment support is provided by the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Endowment Fund and The John and Miyoko Davey Endowment Fund. Additional season support is provided by The Globus Family and Friends of Film. Transportation assistance is provided by Japan Airlines, the official Japanese airline sponsor of Japan Society Film. Housing assistance is provided by the Prince Kitano New York, the official hotel sponsor of Japan Society Film.