Director
Daigo Matsui
Writer
Daigo Matsui
Cast
Kisetsu Fujiwara, Kenta Hamano, Kengo Kora, Rikki Metsugi, Ryo Narita, Ryuya Wakaba
Producer
Daisuke Wada
Cinematographer
Futa Takagi
Sound Designer
Hisafumi Takeuchi
Composer
Yuta Mori
Editor
Ryuichi Hamada
contact
ColorBird Inc.
Official website
Six high school friends reunite for a wedding ceremony. They reconnect as if no time has passed, recall old nicknames, joke around and get ready to perform a trademark – and delightfully embarrassing – dance routine from their youthful days. But an unspoken weirdness lingers: Yoshio (rising star Ryo Narita of HOMUNCULUS) should not be there. At all. Metaphysically speaking, that is. And yet… His friends are able to see him, hear him, and touch him. As the day progresses, painful memories start blending with the present and an old flame makes an appearance, building towards a reckoning for all involved. No one wants to face the obvious: the lost Yoshio has remained in twilight.
Adapted from a stage play inspired by the death of a real-life friend, REMAIN IN TWILIGHT might be Daigo Matsui’s most accomplished and personal project yet. The longstanding Fantasia favourite (AFRO TANAKA, SWEET POOLSIDE, WONDERFUL WORLD END and JAPANESE GIRLS NEVER DIE) returns with an audacious film, expertly merging his earlier pop sensibility with the experimental streak of his recent work. Navigating the web of memories, adulthood expectations and grief of his protagonists with a series of expertly choreographed long takes and involving editing techniques, REMAIN IN TWILIGHT proves immediately impressive. Its fluid, ever-changing mise-en-scène evokes the fading of long-time friendships and the passing of a life, taking the viewer on a bittersweet metaphysical journey, at the crossroads between the buddy comedy and the supernatural drama. – Ariel Esteban Cayer
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