Known for Acting
In the Meiji Period, in the 19th century Japan, transitioning towards modernization, BLACK OX explores the relationship between man and ox, inspired by the “Ten Ox-Herding Pictures” a series of short poems and illustrations from Zen Buddhism tradition that depict the path to enlightenment and spiritual awakening. BLACK OX follows the life of a Man, a former hunter-gatherer who loses his connection to the gods of nature and to his spirituality in the process of becoming a farmer and becoming “Japanese” during the nation’s period of westernization in the Meiji Period. Transitioning from a life in the mountains to a life in the farm, one day he comes across a Black Ox. He somehow succeeds in leading the reluctant animal back to his home, and begins living with it. The OX becomes his companion in a life of seasons in the attempt to reconnect with nature.
The incinerator of a waste treatment facility, where a fire blazes fiercely behind a circular window. The sound of a government official’s voice over the radio announces that the name of the era is changing. A nameless protagonist whose coworker delves into mountains of garbage. A boss abusive towards his subordinates. A bus driver asking where he should go. A woman who has lost her mother. Unable to ask for help and or to help themselves, everyone is going through their own madness.
After causing a major incident, police officer Daigo Agawa takes his wife and daughter to live in the remote mountain village of Kuge. It seems the perfect place to recover from the ordeal, despite the mysterious disappearance of a previous officer posted there. One day, the body of an old woman is found on the mountain. The Goto family says she was attacked by a bear, but Daigo notices a human bite mark. It soon becomes clear that not all is as it seems in the village.
Directorial debut by Kiridoshi Risaku, an accomplished film and cultural critic and author of "Miyazaki Hayao no ‘sekai'" and "Kaiju tsukai to shonen: Ultraman no sakka tachi". Mikoto (Mikoto) and Takashi (Sumori Ryubun) graduated from the same high school. Now in their twenties, they meet by coincidence and hit it off, and they decide to spend the night together. But Takashi invites her not to a love hotel, but to their former high school. Mikoto has only bad memories from high school, and she realizes that Takashi also is looking for a chance to redo his teenage years.
