Director Kei Ishikawa stated that Japanese cinema is usually reluctant to show Japan how it really is, which is why he wanted to show some less frequently seen societal realities, like a remarried woman with child, or racism against Korean immigrants.
It was nominated 13 times at the 2023 Japan Academy Film Prize, winning 8, including Best Movie, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Screenplay.
The movie focuses on the phenomena of the vanished people in Japan, commonly called the Johatsu. It is estimated that around 100,000 people voluntarily vanish every year in Japan, for a variety of reasons: too many debts, too much societal pressure or a complicated family situation. This is not a new issue either, as a 1967 movie by Shohei Imamura, A Man Vanished, was already following a woman's quest to find her vanished fiancé.
It is the adaptation of the 2018 Yomiuri Prize recipient, a novel by Keiichiro Hirano.
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