Touching the Skin of Eeriness

Following the death of his father, Chihiro abates his loneliness by practicing a unique, water-like form of modern dance with his friend Naoya in which the young men’s hands and bodies intertwine with each other but never touch. Things take a strange turn when Naoya’s girlfriend breaks up with him, setting off a sequence of events that leads to an unexplained tragedy at a nearby river. A prequel to an as-of-yet-unmade feature film, Touching the Skin of Eeriness offers more questions than it can answer, creating a powerfully evocative sense of mystery that finds Hamaguchi emphasizing mood and tone over dialogue or exposition.

Part of Three by Ryusuke Hamaguchi.