Videophobia
Director: Daisuke Miyazaki
Actors: Sumire Ashina, Tomona Hirota, Shûgo Oshinari
PlotIn modern-day Osaka, a young woman named Mai lives a mundane life working at a below-average job. Navigating her daily routine with a tinge of dissatisfaction, she feels detached from the vibrant city around her. One day, she makes a spontaneous decision to end her monotonous lifestyle by embracing a more thrilling path. She spends her evenings in underground clubs, where she experiences a world that is starkly different from her vanilla life. The newfound nightlife escapades offer her brief exhilarations, and she even finds herself forming unlikely friendships. Amidst this whirlwind of chaotic freedom, Mai crosses paths with a charismatic entertainer named Shinji, whose enigmatic personality captivates her curiosity.
As she becomes more entrenched in this shadowy lifestyle, Mai discovers that someone secretly filmed an intimate encounter with Shinji. The explicit footage begins circulating online without her consent, leading to a profound sense of paranoia and vulnerability that invades Mai's mental landscape. Terrified of the judgments and potential ramifications on her personal life, she starts to embody a deep-seated fear of video—the digital eye haunting her at every turn. Feeling isolated, Mai grapples with the eroding boundary between the virtual and real worlds. Her existence becomes overshadowed by the fear of being trapped within a digital likeness that she cannot control or escape from, forcing her to confront the pervasive, dehumanizing grip of technology on personal identity.
Writers: Naoto Akiyama, Daisuke Miyazaki
Release Date: 01 Aug 2019
Runtime: 88 min
Rating: N/A
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Home Video Reviews
Videophobia delves into digital identity with dreamlike, minimal realism, complemented by a solid A/V Blu-ray release, true to Kani's mission.
Read our review of Videophobia Blu-ray Slipcover in Original Pressing to find out more