Director Naomi Kawase's latest film, "A Certain Magical Index," will be released on Friday, February 6, 2026. This is Kawase's first feature film in six years and her first original screenplay in eight years.
The film, which had its world premiere at the 78th Locarno International Film Festival and was praised as "Naomi Kawase's masterpiece," has garnered attention. The story poses the fundamental question, "Where do people go when they die?"
The story is set against two social themes: the reality of organ transplant medicine in Japan and the problem of approximately 8 people going missing each year. This work depicts the realities of disappearances and heart transplants, with the motifs of "shapes of love" and "connections of life."
Coming to Japan from France to work towards the spread of organ transplants, Cory faces the barriers of differing views on life and death and ethics, and spends his days feeling powerless. While communication problems arise in his life with Jin, a young man he meets on Yakushima, the condition of Hitomi, a girl with a heart condition, suddenly worsens, and the story quietly but steadily moves towards an inevitable fate.
The title, which combines the opposing words "illusion" and "it certainly happened," hints at the content of this film, which proposes a new way of thinking that transcends binary oppositions. Director Kawase has previously depicted "love" that exists in relationships that are not bound by blood ties or common sense in films such as "Bean Sweet," "Hikari," and "Morning Comes." In this film, too, transplant medicine continues people's lives, raising questions about the meaning of life, as we come to realize that "death" is not the end.
The protagonist, Corrie, is played by Luxembourg native Vicky Krieps, who gives her all in this portrayal of a woman who is both kind and lonely. Jin is played by Kan'ichiro, appearing in a Kawase film for the first time. Supporting actors include Ono Machiko, Kitamura Kazuki, and Nagase Masatoshi. Don't miss the realistic acting of child actors Nakamura Oshiro and Nakano Midori, who were discovered by director Kawase during auditions.
Scenes of heart transplants and discussions in the medical field were filmed like a documentary with the cooperation of doctors and nurses who actually work in pediatric organ transplants. The scenery woven by the Yakusugi cedars of Yakushima, a World Heritage Site, also resonates with director Kawase's filmography, emanating the breath of life itself.
Even if a visible form is lost, life continues to live on in someone else's body and memories. This film looks at the nature of such life and depicts the "form of love" and the "connection of life." It is sure to be a film that will quietly linger in the hearts of its viewers.
