Sharing (Japan)  

Theatrical intricacies are intermingled with both the occult and the therapeutic in this initially intriguing meditation on the particular grief of those in post-Fukushima Japan. Director Shinozaki Makoto—who is also a research psychologist and a journalist specializing in horror films—strips human behaviour down to unvarnished, if handsomely designed, basics in a mind-twisting tale of a teacher unnerved by a premonitory young student and an exploratory play that gives the film its main shape. The hyper-real videography, saturated colours, and Kabuki-style exaggeration of faces keep it interesting, if slightly dragged-out, until the last five minutes, when all the signs and symbols come together in a laughably ham- (or butterfly-) handed way.

Cinematheque, September 30 (2:30 p.m.) and October 8 (9 p.m.)