A Drowning Man begins with the narration by Kumiko who says, "if we can dream after death, then death is not that bad, even if the dream is boring". This film explores love buried under daily routines and marriage problems, by employing the surrealistic perspective of death, focusing on the relationship between a husband and his wife in two different ways. The husband′s space is the same place the woman calls her space, and the only space in this film - the home. While all the husband′s actions and conversations take place in the home, the wife appears only in the opening and end parts of the film with short suggestive narrations. Their disagreement is centered on the husband′s wish to totally possess his wife and the wife′s wish to escape from her husband′s noose and find herself. This film brilliantly portrays the daily trouble between a husband and wife, by employing death as the extreme form of rupture. Naoki Ichio deftly employs limited space, dialogue and camera-work, and a brilliant storyline. (Michelle Sohn)