A onetime indie wunderkind, Kaizo Hayashi has since become a respected teacher of film at Kyoto University of the Arts and Tohoku University of Art and Design.
With the backing of the latter institution, Hayashi has directed “Bolt,” a three-part film based on the meltdown disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant of 2011. Made over a period of three years, the film is an object lesson on how to derive maximum on-screen impact from a minimal budget.
Hayashi’s work has long had a nostalgic streak and lush beauty, starting with his 1986 feature debut “To Sleep so as to Dream” — and both elements are present in “Bolt.” Also, unlike the many 3/11 films that opt for a docudrama approach, “Bolt” is something of a genre mishmash that aims to entertain. This is also typical of Hayashi, who is best known for his playfully noirish detective mysteries, featuring Masatoshi Nagase as private investigator Maiku Hama.