Underplayed Gems
The whole movie catalogue

Films and series, searchable by what they are

← Back to the shop

Mushishi (2006)

Mushishi poster
Original title
蟲師
Directed by
Katsuhiro Otomo
Genre
fantasy film
Country
Japan
Runtime
2h 11m
Rated
G
Rating
6.1 of 10 from 43 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb

How it feels

A traveler named Ginko roams rural Japan to help people affected by strange spirit-like creatures called Mushi. He investigates mysterious events and tries to balance the natural world with the supernatural.

meditativeslow-burnatmosphericmelancholiccontemplativedreamlikequietuneasy

What happens

Mushishi (Japanese: 蟲師), also known in English as Mushi-Shi: The Movie and Bugmaster, is a 2006 Japanese fantasy film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, based on the manga of the same name. It stars Joe Odagiri as Ginko, a traveler who dedicates himself to protecting the populace from supernatural creatures called Mushi. Otomo began work on the film in 2005 after declining a jidaigeki project. He was interested in creating a mix of live action and animation and felt the manga gave him an appropriate creative vehicle. The film debuted at the Venice International Film Festival in 2006 and was screened at several other festivals prior to its theatrical release on March 24, 2007, in Japan. The DVD was released in Japan in 2007, in the United Kingdom in 2008, and in North America in 2009. The film has received a mixed response from film critics. Many praised Odagiri's performance and its visuals but critiqued the plot and mythology as confusing. Mushishi received nominations and awards at film festivals and was among the 100 highest-grossing films of 2007 in Japan. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? Tell the Catbot what you feel like watching and it picks from the whole catalogue, or browse by genre, country and year.

Lists: Korean thrillers worth the evening · Anime films beyond Studio Ghibli · Slow films for a rainy night · Horror that unsettles instead of startling · Series you can finish in a weekend · Nordic crime worth the subtitles · Good films that end in under 90 minutes · Documentaries that play like thrillers

Loading movies…

What should I watch?