PRODUCTION NOTES

The female as idealized by legendary contemporary poet and novelist, Saisei Murou (1889-1962), in his ultra-surreal novel about a unique relationship be-tween a woman-goldfish shapeshifter and an aging writer, is beautifully ren-dered as a feature film in Bitter Honey under the cinematic stewardship of fantasy film director, Gakuryu Ishii (Isn’t Anyone Alive?, ’12 & Flower of Shanidar, ’13). The film pairs Fumi Nikaido (Himizu, ’12) with sea-soned actor Ren Osugi (HANA-BI, ‘98) along with Yoko Maki as the ghost of a past girlfriend and Kengo Kora as legendary Taisho Period writer, Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927).

The heroine Fumi Nikaido, sometimes a young woman, at other times ap-pearing as a goldfish, takes up residence with an aging writer and contends with his mysterious romantic past. Master fantasy director, Gakuryu Ishii, unleashes his unique cinematic vision with a sensual, retro world view interlaced with mu-sical elements.