Hisai

Director 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. Soon the village elders are worried that Takako might abandon her significant ritual duties at the island's shrine in favor of the rakish newcomer. Meanwhile, as the village prepares for its annual secret ceremony, a flock of outsiders and TV crews descend on the island. The tension between the islanders and their unwelcome guests erupts into violence resulting in a beating and a rape. As secrets unfold, the islanders and Takamine soon come to a head over the islands future, it's hidden past and the reason for the festival.