A Man Vanishes
(Ningen johatsu)
Screening on Film
Directed by Shohei Imamura.
With Yoshie Hayakawa, Shigeru Tsuruguchi, Sayo Hayakawa.
Japan, 1967, 35mm, color, 130 min.
Japanese with English subtitles.
Print source: Japan Foundation
With Yoshie Hayakawa, Shigeru Tsuruguchi, Sayo Hayakawa.
Japan, 1967, 35mm, color, 130 min.
Japanese with English subtitles.
Print source: Japan Foundation
Rarely have films mixed fiction and documentary with the impact achieved by A Man Vanishes, which began as a documentary about the rising number of missing persons in Japan. The film presents one such case, that of a young man who disappeared while on a business trip. Imamura hired an actor to play an investigator who interacts with the missing man's fiancée. The result is a fascinating mixture of fact and fiction that builds through a series of revelations to a dizzying finale.