Dejima Japanese Film Festival: Tatsushi Ômori's THE WHISPERING OF THE GODS (GERUMANIUMU NO YORU)

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Tatsushi Ômori's The Whispering of the Gods (Gerumaniumu no yoru - or "Germanium no yoru", if you prefer back-transliterations) is scheduled to have its Dutch première at the Dejima Japanese Film Festival in Amsterdam on November 3rd; it's to be the opening film of the festival. It had its world première at the 18th Tokyo International Film Festival (Dai-18-kai Tôkyô Kokusai Eigasai) on October 22nd of last year, and its international (i.e., outside-of-Japan) première at the Locarno International Film Festival (Festival Internazionale del Film Locarno) on August 11th of this year. Arato Film Inc. (K.K. Arato Eiga Jimusho) released it theatrically in Japan on December 17th of last year.

The screenplay for The Whispering of the Gods (Gerumaniumu no yoru) was written by Yoshio Urasawa, based on the eponymous novel Gerumaniumu no yoru by Mangetsu Hanamura. The movie stars Hirofumi Arai as Rô, Léona Hirota (Hirota Reona) as Sister Theresa, Megumi Sawara as Kyôko, Keita Kimura as Tôru, Nao Ômori as Ukawa, Takayuki Tsuwa as Kita, Genta Dairaku as the scout master, Masashi Yamamoto as Brother Akabane, Akifumi Miura as Arakawa, Akaji Maro as the elderly shopkeeper, Renji Ishibashi as Komiya, and Kei Satô as Father Togawa.

Here's a description of The Whispering of the Gods from the Locarno International Film Festival website: "After killing two people in a car scrapyard, a young man, Rou, returns to the mountain monastery he grew up in. In this religious centre terrible abuses are committed every day, and Rou is forced to repeatedly satisfy the priest's perverse desires. Whilst he listens to the so-called whisperings of the gods who apparently direct his actions through the medium of small radios, his days are spent working in the henhouse or the kitchen and having sex with various people who frequent the enclosed monastery. Although Rou sleeps with Kyoko, a female novice, he has no qualms about forcing himself on a nun with whom he prepares meals. Despite the murders he has committed and the brutality of his sexual practices, which he confesses to the imperturbable and devoted abbot, Rou shows no remorse. But soon old tensions resurface between inmates who grew up together and from then on, no safeguard nor regulation can stop the divine offences. Based on [the novel Gerumaniumu no yoru by Mangetsu Hanamura, The Whispering of the Gods] is a striking and shocking film. [Tatsushi Ômori] explores the perversions that can occur in human relationships when they are hidden from the eyes of the world. There is no longer any notion of good and evil, and when one of the characters has a moment of compassion, or acts to make amends, he then compromises himself in further immoral behaviour. Yet the film emanates a degree of tranquillity, particularly in the opening scene of majestically falling snow on oxen laboriously yet serenely trudging across the countryside - an image that contrasts with the sequences of daily violence. The director reveals the depression of his main character, who seems caught between depravity and religion, seeking to find a way out of this enclosed world of sin and punishment."

For more information on The Whispering of the Gods, see ScreenAnarchy's eighth, seventh, sixth, fifth, fourth, third, second, and first articles on it.

The Whispering of the Gods theatrical trailer (downloadable 15 MB WMV file)
The Whispering of the Gods teaser trailer (downloadable 7.3 MB WMV file)
The Whispering of the Gods image gallery (10 enormous JPEGs)
The Whispering of the Gods English-language official subsite
The Whispering of the Gods Japanese-language official subsite
Dejima Japanese Film Festival: The Whispering of the Gods (in English)
Dejima Japanese Film Festival: The Whispering of the Gods (in Dutch)