a review of 回路

ℍ𝕆𝕆ℙ𝕋𝕆𝔹𝔼ℝ 𝔼𝕃𝔼𝕍𝔼ℕ ℕ𝕀𝔾ℍ𝕋 𝔽𝕀𝔽𝕋𝔼𝔼ℕ: A real feel-bad movie for the internet age that I feel has only become more profound and applicable over the last 20+ years. Back in 2001 I definitely knew some folks who had "disappeared" into the web (I might even have been one of them to a certain extent) but I don't think anybody expected things to reach the level of solipsism and epistemic closure that we see in our current society and politics. At the very least, I suspect Kurosawa intended his metaphor to function primarily within a Japanese context, as a way of talking about both suicide and endemic social withdrawal, rather than anything larger. But there's something compelling in how it separates, and then brings together its plotlines, before pulling them apart again at the very end that feels somewhat universal.