In sharp contrast to the psychosexually extreme cinema most often associated with the ATG avant-garde is Kuroku Kazuo's profoundly lyrical and unclassifiable Silence Has No Wings, in which a young boy's search for an elusive butterfly opens up to an allegorical meditation on the atomic bomb, the Cold War and the dark shadow of Japan's militarized nationalism. A rare example of true film poetry, Silence Has No Wings sustains its hypnotic rhythm through the delirious beauty and haunting power of its imagery and the floating specter of the ethereal butterfly-woman played by Mariko Kaga. Originally produced by Toho, the studio shelved Kazuo's film out of fear of controversy yet allowed it to be distributed by ATG, giving way to its quick recognition as an astute yet under-spoken work of sharp political protest.