The Whispering of the Gods brings to screen the Akutagawa prize winning novel by Mangetsu Hanamura. After returning from a church affiliated juvenile reformatory, Rou tests the limits of blasphemy and his religion. He hears the whispering of Gods through a transparent earphone connected to a germanium radio. Rou wonders “why should we trap ourselves inside of our lives?” Even though we know there is no answer to this question, still we pretend to seek it. These emotions float through his mind. Nevertheless, he also understands that living is filled with joy. Even if this joy includes tormenting others, being hurt, feeling pain and an inescapable emptiness, somehow we will still have hope in the end. But no one can tell what this hope is and where it will bring you... “There are many things neither your reason nor your ethics are able to weigh in terms of good and evil. This world (this film) is not a friend that will gently envelop you.”

Screenplay Urasawa Yoshio
Photography (colour) Ryo Otsuka
Editing Okuhara Yoshiyuki
Music Chino Syuichi
Cast Hirofumi Arai, Leona Hirota, Legumi Samara, Renji Ishibashi
Production Genjiro Arato, Shinichiro Muraoka
Year of production 2005
Running time 107’
Format

Tatsushi Omori

Tatsushi Omori was born 1970 in Tokyo. His father, Maro Akaji, is a butoh dancer and the founder of the butoh troupe Dairakudakan. After graduating in sociology at the Komazawa University, he debuted 1999 as assistant director for Junji Sakamoto, Kazuyuki Izutsu and Hiroshi Okuhara. He produced and acted in Hiroshi Okuhara’s The Wave (2001). In 2005 he made his long-awaited directorial debut with The Whispering of the Gods.