Mirrored Mind (2005)

Interesting facts

Mirrored Mind is a 2005 Japanese experimental drama film by Gakuryū Ishii. The film stars Miwako Ichikawa as an actress experiencing burnout, depression and a crisis of identity. It is a feature-length version of the short film created for Jeonju International Film Festival Digital Project.

Production

Mirrored Mind originated as a short film entitled Kyo-shin, produced as part of Jeonju Digital Project 2004, which is a collection of three digital short films commissioned by the Jeonju International Film Festival in South Korea. The three shorts were Influenza by Bong Joon-ho, Kyo-shin by Sogo Ishii, and Dance Me to the End of Love by Yu Lik-wai. Ishii subsequently expanded his short into the 61 minute feature released in 2005.

The film was shot on video, a choice that, according to critic Tom Mes, produces images of such striking clarity they can justly be called luminous. This hyperreality that makes the viewer, as Ishii himself put it, forget there was a camera involved in the first place. Filming took place in two contrasting locations: the Shibuya district of Tokyo and the island of Bali, Indonesia.

Ishii has described Mirrored Mind as a fresh start, likening the experience of making it to starting over from zero as a filmmaker.

The original score was composed by Hiroyuki Onogawa, who had previously collaborated with Ishii on August in the Water (1995). Onogawa's delicate score contrasts urban chaos with serene soundscapes, using music and ambient sound to reflect the protagonist's inner states, turning visual and sonic elements into a meditation on selfhood, stillness, and spiritual peace.

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