Fan Casting Ink and Shadows

Step into the luminous yet haunted world of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, the visionary writer whose sharp prose and boundless imagination reshaped Japanese literature. "Ink and Shadows" is a deeply evocative biopic that explores the triumphs and torments of a man revered as the "father of the Japanese short story." Set against the backdrop of Japan's Taishō period—a fleeting era of modernity and tradition—the film chronicles Akutagawa’s meteoric rise as a literary icon, juxtaposed with his internal battles. From his formative years as an inquisitive student devouring Western and classical Japanese literature, to his emergence as a literary prodigy under the mentorship of Natsume Sōseki, Akutagawa’s life unfolds like one of his own short stories: vivid, fragmented, and painfully human. Through his masterworks like Rashōmon and Hell Screen, Akutagawa becomes a voice of a generation caught between two worlds—traditional Japan and the rapidly modernizing nation striving to define its identity. Yet, his outward success masks a consuming darkness. Plagued by a hereditary predisposition to mental illness and burdened by fears of societal collapse, Akutagawa’s life spirals into a labyrinth of paranoia and despair.