Sofia’s review published on Letterboxd:
Pride and hunger, loss and blood— here unfolds a terrain fraught with the frenzied energy of the ravenous. Starved not only for sustenance, for fuel but for some scrap of purpose, some driving force to propel them out of the misery of the impoverished and into something greater, something beyond that utter wretchedness. Here unravels a morbid expression of hunger politics; the energy in the facial expressions, such light in their eyes, an almost farcical expressionism.
The sounds. The rain and the low humming of the mournful singing, the clash of swords, the yells and cries of hysteria, the water. The blind monk twanging the strings, a scratchy metallic sound that rasps and scrapes more than harmonises. The fish being caught in the water, the sheer joy over his catch. And towards the end, cradling the baby... it’s me... it’s what happened to me. In a drunken stupor he had lurched and lumbered like a stupefied bear. Is he really a samurai? Only in his mind. They mock him to test his pride, pummel and shape him into the very essence of the samurai.
We’ve survived yet again. Silence, only glances. The farmers working the land, the hollow echo of empty skies. We’ve lost yet again.