Ryûsuke Hamaguchi	...	(Director)
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Haruki Murakami, Takamasa Oe	...	(Writer)
Hidetoshi Nishijima	...	Yūsuke Kafuku
Toko Miura	...	Misaki Watari
Masaki Okada	...	Kôji Takatsuki
Reika Kirishima	...	Oto Kafuku
Yoo-rim Park	...	Lee Yoon-a
Dae-Young Jin	...	Kon Yoon-su
Ziyun Yuan	...	Janice Chan
Satoko Abe	...	Yuhara
Eiko Ishibashi	...	Composer
Hidetoshi Shinomiya	...	Cinematographer
Azusa Yamazaki	...	Editor

Comments: Does that tape creep you out now?

When a director drops the opening credit roll forty-five minutes into a film it's because they know they've hit one out of the park

The other thing Hamaguchi has in common with Sono, besides making long-ass films necessarily, and with ease, is casting greatness. No small roles, only small actors, or etc.. Maybe a few of the play actors here are garnish, but that's what they are. The woman who produces the play has about five minutes of screen time and about five to ten lines of dialog and she is a fucking masterpiece

But more importantly, what shall we do about the play?

I would propose a theory that Hamaguchi needs extended run time to let the tension breathe, but Heaven Is Still Far Away is kinda short and succeeds (even though I didn't get it the first time through)

This film gave me the Hamaguchi redemption I needed after Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy. I hung on every line, every facial expression. Like Sono, Hamaguchi's best work involves the craft itself

I confess an extreme soft spot for sign language. When the mute actress auditions for her role, it scared me it was so good. When she more or less closes the film I died

ps - I also loved the swishy Mandarin. That whole concept of multi-lingual-ness was outstanding

Summary: Nishijima Hidetoshi as a stage actor and director happily married to his playwright wife . Then one day the wife disappears