Vital

After a crash leaves him with no memory, Hiroshi awakens in a hospital unsure of his identity or past. A battered atlas of anatomy catches his eye and kindles a stubborn pull toward medicine, as if studying the body can restore the person he once was. At school he meets classmates and finds a tender connection with a fellow student, yet a darker fixation takes root. The cadaver on the dissection table becomes the center of his new world, eclipsing conversations, friendships, and even romance. The hospital corridors feel like a trap, and memory whispers wander through sterile wards as he struggles to fit fragments of his life together. As the lines between patient and observer blur, the film follows a fragile psyche drawn toward the living dead rather than the living.

Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto, Vital released in 2004 and marked another daring entry in his cinematic approach. The film stars Tadanobu Asano and Nami Tsukamoto, with Kiki in a memorable supporting role, underscoring Tsukamoto's hands on, uncompromising style and atmosphere.

Reception notes a spare, unsettling pace and stark medical imagery that heightens psychological tension. The film probes memory and identity while tracing an obsession that blurs care with compulsion, asking how far desire can push a person when reality slips away.

Vital may not have become a mainstream hit, but it sits within Shinya Tsukamoto's body of work as a stark example of blending clinical realism with dreamlike dread. Some viewers regard its anatomy driven atmosphere as a touchstone for indie thrillers that mix medicine and mood.