A Man Vanishes

Imamura’s documentary begins with an investigation into a Tokyo salesman’s disappearance, then turns its own investigative process into part of the story.

As Imamura, actor Tsuyuguchi Shigeru and the missing man’s fiancée pursue Ôshima’s final movements, interviews and overlapping accounts complicate the search. The film examines how people present themselves and how a documentary constructs reality. The ICA identifies the presentation as Japanese with English subtitles.