Review | Phases of the Moon movie review: Japanese reincarnation drama is an unabashedly romantic tear-jerker
- Starring Yo Oizumi, Kasumi Arimura and Ko Shibasaki, Phases of the Moon suggests reincarnation occurs every day and might affect everyone who has ever lived
- Director Ryuichi Hiroki steers well clear of any scientific or theological justification, instead focusing on the message that ‘love conquers all’
3/5 stars
Phases of the Moon, the new film from director Ryuichi Hiroki, posits that reincarnation is absolutely real. Not only that, but it is ubiquitous.
The film does not appear to have any specific religious inclinations, but nevertheless suggests reincarnation occurs every single day and might very well affect everyone who has ever lived.
Just as the moon itself waxes and wanes each month, dying and being reborn anew, in Phases of the Moon, so too does the human consciousness return inside a new host once a person has shuffled off their mortal coil.
Needless to say, this is a concept that ordinary businessman Kei Osanai (Yo Oizumi) struggles to accept, even as the evidence steadily mounts in its favour.
Kei’s life is thrown through a loop when his wife, Kozue (Ko Shibasaki), and teenage daughter, Ruri (Kikuchi Hinako), are killed in a car accident.