This is the sixth feature film by Naomi Kawase, who is gaining international recognition as a documentary as well as feature filmmaker. Set in a historical Japanese city where the excavation of ancient ruins is under way, a mysterious and tragic love story unfolds. Kayoko falls in love with Takumi not because she is unsatisfied with her marriage; karma has led Kayoko to marry one man and to love Takumi. Being surrounded by nature, the main characters accept their fates like air and feel the time of waiting as effortlessly as breathing. Calm characters, chant-like narration, illusions in overlapping times, and images of nature... From time to time, the natural landscape takes the place of the main characters at the center of the film. Kawase intended to awaken a long-lost feeling in contemporary urbanites through these National Geographic-type images. The title, Hanezu, is an ancient Japanese word for a shade of red and Kawase’s camera captures the flow of time and the texture of nature like a poet?a poet writing in red ink! (KANG Sowon)