Shadow of Fire – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Part of my TIFF 2023 Coverage.
Content advisory: violence, war, mature themes.
No plot spoilers are contained within this article.
If you loved the critically acclaimed Oppenheimer (2023), Shinya Tsuakamoto’s newest film is a must-watch next film to continue the historical storytelling timeline. Shadow of Fire (2023) is a Japanese drama and a story of the raw adversity in the aftermath of WWII in Japan. As an anti-war film, it unabashedly paints the tragedy of war to both the land and the body and minds of its people.
Shinya Tsukamoto, the renowned Japanese filmmaker most well known for his extensive contributions to the body horror and sci-fi genres, is also accredited with defining the Japanese Cyberpunk movement through his legendary cult classic film Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989). You may know Japanese Cyberpunk as the basis for the 2020 video game, Cyberpunk: 2077 by CD Projekt Red – notably controversial during launch for being buggy and seemingly unfinished. Cyberpunk: 2077 then became the inspiration that went on to grace us with Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022), an anime series by Studio Trigger – which was received with public and critical acclaim, unlike its video game counterpart.
Tsukamoto’s latest film, Shadow of Fire (2023) marks the final piece in his trilogy of war films consisting of Fires on the Plain (2014), Killing (2018), and Shadow of Fire (2023).
Tsukamoto’s talent for eliciting visceral fear into the hearts of the audience through grotesque body transformations has transformed into an obsession with capturing the real-life horrors of post-WWII Japan. In Shadow of Fire, the film is centered upon an unnamed orphaned boy (played by 6-year-old Oga Tsukao) who is struggling to feed himself and find a place of belonging amongst the ruins of war.
The big round eyes of Oga Tsukao, who plays the boy, do an outstanding job of expressing vulnerability. In the pearly, unblinking eyes of the boy, you see the innocence of a child who is focused solely on survival in a country plagued by the terrors of wartime loss. Scenes from the film seem designed to elicit memories of the children in our lives or images of our youthful selves. And through this connection to the main character, the thrill and tension of the film are heightened.
The film’s first segment is confined in a compact destitute ramen house but the settings expand afterward. During the Q&A post-premiere, Tsukamoto told Wowery through a translation that he decided to create this closed-in situation purposefully to create an air of mystery surrounding the black market and took inspiration from Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low (1963).
Images courtesy of TIFF and Shinya Tsukamoto／Kaijyu Theater.
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