Saw it during the Era New Horizons film festival in Poland.
A beautiful movie about dying which leaves with questions that cannot be answered easily. Is it really the case that our life, the usual things we all do before we die is really a better way to spend your life compared to what the main character of the movie did? Powerful.
michuk
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http://filmaster.com - movie recommendations and blog
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is this not based on a true story?
shareIt does say ‘based on a true story’ at the beginning.
shareThere are quite a few cases upon which the Japanese author could have based the story, "Until I Am A Mummy". Peter Liechti says in an interview on YouTube that Shimada Masahiko indicated that the source material was from a report outside Tokyo. However, after perusing different cases, I think a case from 1991 of a man found in or near Ticonderoga, NY bears the most resemblance to "The Sound Of Insects". The man's name was Michael McLoughlin, he was 36 years old, and his diary begins in August and ends on November 1st. He was found in December of 1991. Quote from news article:
"The diary likened McLoughlin's ordeal to Jesus' 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness, Sypek said. McLoughlin described destroying his food and hiding from hunters and search planes, he said.
"He describes how he feels as he dies. The hunger leaves him," Sypek said.
The diary led Sypek to the man's identity.
"He talks about Mission Beach. . . . He refers to the base and so forth," Sypek said.
The diary covered part of August through Nov. 1. Sypek wouldn't say specifically what the diary said about why McLoughlin wanted to kill himself."
Just a guess, for whatever it's worth...
LATimes article on McLoughlin
http://articles.latimes.com/1991-12-22/local/me-1421_1_suicide-diary
From variety.com:
"With no firsthand evidence of the actual suicide in question, the pic relies instead on the text of Japanese author Shimada Masahiko's novella "Until I Am a Mummy," presented as the diary of the deceased recovered alongside his immaculately preserved corpse."
and
"...the tragedy eventually giving way to relief and the morbid appeal undermined by the fact that the narrative itself is merely speculative."
"I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than..a rude remark or a vulgar action" Blanche DuBois