The Day of Destruction (2020)

Seven years ago, a mysterious monster was found deep in a rural coal mine. Since then, rumors of a plague spread through the small town, and people experience an unexplainable mental illness. A young Shugendo practitioner goes missing only to resurface transformed, intent on exorcising the world from the monsters haunting it. Directed by Toshiaki Toyoda (Blue Spring) in a moment of urgent creativity that includes the short Wolf’s Calling (JC 2020), his latest film stars the magnetic Kiyohiko Shibukawa (Lowlife Love, JC 2016), MahiToThePeople (of the band GEZAN in his debut film role), Issey Ogata (Tony Takitani), Yosuke Kubozuka (Giri/Haji), and Ryuhei Matsuda (The Miracle of Crybaby Shottan, JC 2019). Streaming for 24 hours only to mark the film’s theatrical release in Japan on July 24, which would have been the opening of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games, Toshiaki Toyoda sets out to “exorcise a society obsessed with the monstrosity of self-interest and greed.”