Bright Future

Kiyoshi Kurosawa finally fulfils his promise with a haunting and ecstatic crypto-gay movie in which the weird imagery and knockout performances are in perfect sync. The flaky Yuji (Odagiri) and seemingly placid Mamoru (Asano) are workmates in a hand-towel laundry, irritated by the false bonhomie of their boss. Mamoru's only apparent interest in life is a project to acclimatise a pet jellyfish to fresh water - a project he bequeaths to Yuji when he's jailed for murdering the boss and his family. But when Yuji naively voices aloud the realisation that he loves his friend, Mamoru rejects him. Distraught, Yuji lurches into a partnership of sorts with Mamoru's father Shinichiro (Fuji, little seen since Ai no Corrida), who recycles techno-junk in a ramshackle workshop - eventually becoming something like his surrogate son. Images of retrieval, renewal and mutation illuminate a drama centred on the unvoiced thoughts and feelings between men. Dark and mysterious, but with a radiantly optimistic pay off.