Loss is a frequent theme for Naomi Kawase, beginning with her early documentaries based around her own unusual upbringing: Left by her divorced parents to be raised by a great-aunt, she lost a conventional family life.
Facing the middle-aged photographer hero of her new film "Radiance" ("Hikari") is a loss of an intimately physical, professionally devastating kind: He is going blind.
The film's initial focus, however, is Misako (Ayame Misaki), a young woman who is writing the script for an audio guide that will help the visually impaired enjoy an coming movie in the theater. When the photographer, Masaya (Masatoshi Nagase), harshly criticizes her script during a prerelease screening for a panel of the visually impaired, Misako is both hurt and angered. Naturally, "Radiance," which was awarded the Ecumenical Prize at the 89th Cannes Film Festival, is being promoted as a love story, with Misako and Masaya as its two principals.