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SYNOPSIS
Nitobe and Sakamoto are friends from childhood who now work at the front desk of a capsule hotel. Nitobe has a particular fondness for philosophy and crustaceans. Sakamoto, meanwhile, is fixated on suicide. The capsule hotel draws a variety of guests, including a Finnish mother who has lost her child, a fugitive woman, and a researcher studying Daphnia. None of their lives ever intersect. Nor do any of the lives out of it for that matter. They exist, but never cross, like cells in a capsule hotel. With crustaceans as leitmotif, the themes of life and death are explored through a fragmentary view of the characters’lives.
SYNOPSIS
Nitobe and Sakamoto are friends from childhood who now work at the front desk of a capsule hotel. Nitobe has a particular fondness for philosophy and crustaceans. Sakamoto, meanwhile, is fixated on suicide. The capsule hotel draws a variety of guests, including a Finnish mother who has lost her child, a fugitive woman, and a researcher studying Daphnia. None of their lives ever intersect. Nor do any of the lives out of it for that matter. They exist, but never cross, like cells in a capsule hotel. With crustaceans as leitmotif, the themes of life and death are explored through a fragmentary view of the characters’lives.
Isamu Hirabayashi was born in 1972 in Shimada City, Shizuoka Prefecture. He was born into a family of precious metal craftsmen of three generations as the second of three sons.
Isamu Hirabayashi was born in 1972 in Shimada City, Shizuoka Prefecture. He was born into a family of precious metal craftsmen of three generations as the second of three sons.
Isamu Hirabayashi was born in 1972 in Shimada City, Shizuoka Prefecture. He was born into a family of precious metal craftsmen of three generations as the second of three sons.
Isamu Hirabayashi was born in 1972 in Shimada City, Shizuoka Prefecture. He was born into a family of precious metal craftsmen of three generations as the second of three sons.
Isamu Hirabayashi was born in 1972 in Shimada City, Shizuoka Prefecture. He was born into a family of precious metal craftsmen of three generations as the second of three sons.
SYNOPSIS
Nitobe and Sakamoto are friends from childhood who now work at the front desk of a capsule hotel. Nitobe has a particular fondness for philosophy and crustaceans. Sakamoto, meanwhile, is fixated on suicide. The capsule hotel draws a variety of guests, including a Finnish mother who has lost her child, a fugitive woman, and a researcher studying Daphnia. None of their lives ever intersect. Nor do any of the lives out of it for that matter. They exist, but never cross, like cells in a capsule hotel. With crustaceans as leitmotif, the themes of life and death are explored through a fragmentary view of the characters’lives.
Director's Statement
I have spent the past 17 years making some 20 short films. Shell and Joint represents my first ever feature-length production, asking the big questions like, “What is the shape or condition of life? And conversely, of death? Perhaps death is the more universal natural and common condition, while life is something of a journey of a free will; a short trip that ends with death. I wanted to make a film that explores that theme, free of the usual conventions of cinematic structure. I wanted to be free. If life is freedom, so is art.
Staff
Director : Isamu Hirabayashi
Screenwriter : Isamu Hirabayashi
Cinematography : Isamu Hirabayashi
Editor : Isamu Hirabayashi
Color Grading : Isamu Hirabayashi
Executive Producer : Madoka Katsumata
Executive Producer : Tatsuo Ito
Co-Producer : Yoko Okazaki
Line Producer : Yoshimi Ishii
Production Manager : Yoko Tabunoki
Production Manager : Kazu Haruno
Music : Takashi Watanabe
Sound design : Keitaro Iijima
Recording : Yasuo Hijikata
Art Director : Ken Murakami
Illustrator : Yumie Ogawa
Still Photographer : Kohide Nakashima
Hair & Make up : Seiji Kamikawa
Hair & Make up : Nobuko Okuno
Hair & Make up : Chise Fujioka
Hair & Make up : Kohta Tanabe
Hair & Make up : Makiko Wada
Gaffer : Yasuhiro Nomura
Gaffer : Takamasa Furukawa
Production Design : Katsuaki Gotoh
Production Design : Sayaka Mizutani
Costume Design : Sayaka Takahashi
Cast
Keisuke Horibe
Mariko Tsutsui
Aiko Sato
Hiromi Kitagawa
Atsuko Sudo
Koharu Kusumi
Ayano Kudo
Saaya Yamasaki
Kanako Higashi
Naoto Nojima
Tatsuya Gasyuin
Karia Nomoto
Dairakudakan
Akiko Takakuwa
Azusa Fujimoto
Jongye Yang
Tomoki Kimura
Supika Yufune
Ruka Ishikawa
Junpei Hashino
Tomohisa Takeda
Kaori Takeshita
Maki Nishiyama
Mizuho Satomi
Akihiro Kato
Rikako Harada
Naoko Takagi
You Hasegawa
Yuriko Onuma
Masafumi Tada
Kei Kato
Taku Kooyama
Yusuke Itagaki
Hiroyuki Toritani
Yurika Yamamura
Kohei Mashiba
Takuya Fujimura
Mado Karasumori
Hajime Osamu
Mayumi Yamamoto
Mitsue Banzai
Minna Vänskä
Masayuki Tanaka
Mika
Momoko Akiyama
Takuya Fujisaki
Takeshi Hirabayashi
Sanae Margaret
Mizuho Sone
Maika Ootsu
Yuno Oota
Takuto Tohara
Daiya Kunii
Azuru Maruyama
Production
DASH CO., LTD.
Chromarhythm Inc.
TEEMA Inc.
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