Vibrator

Rei is a freelance writer at war with what is inside her: she hears voices in her head, cannot sleep, has a difficult relationship with food and drinks too much. One night in a convenience store she meets a truck driver, Takatoshi, and gets into his cab without thinking about it. Along the road the two of them talk, go quiet, look at each other. The shaking cab seems to run at the same rhythm as the voice inside her that will not settle. Ryuichi Hiroki's film is adapted from Mari Akasaka's novel. It looks like a road movie, but the real movement is not outside, it is inside Rei's head, which is why the use of sound matters as much as the image. Shinobu Terajima won best actress prizes in Japan for the part and took awards abroad as well. The film was named among the best Japanese films of 2003.