Charisma

One of master director Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s most searching films, CHARISMA is a profoundly surreal allegory concerning the relationship between man and civilization. After a standoff results in tragedy, hostage negotiator Goro Yabuike (Koji Yakusho) takes a much-needed leave of absence in a remote forest. There, he encounters Charisma—a tree that is parasitically feeding off the surrounding ecosystem—as well as several people vying to control it: a young enthusiast (Hiroyuki Ikeuchi) hoping to protect the strange plant, a botany expert (Jun Fubuki) concerned for the rest of the forest, and a militia hell-bent on obtaining the tree for a collector. Caught among these warring factions, Yabuike must decide whose philosophy of life, death, and survival is worth defending. Evoking personal revelation through atmospheric camerawork and compositions, Kurosawa paints a harrowing portrait of the powerful forces competing for the soul of Japan.

Starring Koji Yakusho, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, Ren Osugi