The Hidden Festival

Taku Shinjo spins this rural drama about ancient taboos and encroaching modernity. Takamine (Gitan Otsuru) is a big-city workaholic sent to a small remote island to seal a business deal. His predecessor almost managed to convince the island's 17 inhabitants to sell their stake and make way for a resort hotel -- that is, before he died under dubious circumstances. Takamine finds the islanders polite and kind but unwilling to discuss business; instead, they tell him to become an islander. So the city-slicker stuffed shirt loses his tie and starts to help the women plant and the men fish. He soon makes his acquaintance with Takako (Mitsuko Baisho), the widowed daughter of the island's chief. She lives alone with her crazed son who is kept Jane Eyre-style chained to a stake. One moon-lit night, their mutual attraction boils over, resulting in a naked, passionate roll on the beach.

Mitsuko Baisho

Gitan Ohtsuru

Norihei Miki

Hiroshi Katsuno

Yoshizumi Ishihara

Takashi Tsumura

Sakae Umezu

Hirotaro Honda

Takahiro Tamura

Kōjirō Hongō

Rinshô Kadekaru

• Taku ShinjoDirector · Executive Producer
• Shintarō IshiharaScreenplay
• Masaaki HiraokaProducer
• Hiroshi IshiyaProducer
• Tatsuo SuzukiDirector of Photography
• Sadao ChinaOriginal Music Composer
• Osamu InoueEditor

Release date

May 30, 1998

Status

Released

Original language

Japanese

Runtime

1h 43m

Genres

Drama