Something illusory lurks in the films of Ryûsuke Hamaguchi. Characters encounter each other under false and mistaken pretences; layers of performance mount and interact; memory intrudes and falters. In the Japanese director’s latest, an environmental fable that won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, the ecosystem of a small village is threatened by a Tokyo business’s plan to establish a ‘glamping’ site in the region. The company is deceptive about its self-serving intentions, which can only disrupt the fabric of the residents’ lives. There is a careful balance to the environment, one that – through loops and ghostly motifs – seems to be at risk because of encroaching violence.