It’s a well-trodden pipeline, the director whose work gets brushed off as pornographic transforming into an arthouse legend. Add Akihiro Suzuki to the list, the director of this moody odyssey across Tokyo and the small Japanese town of Kochi. When young gay porn actor Takachi is found dead, his two best friends travel back to his hometown, the last place he visited. Though at the time of its release, it was mostly seen as gay “pink” cinema – pink being a term for indie Japanese erotic film with nudity – this restoration by the director canonizes it as an experimental queer cult classic exploring friendship, grief, memory, and desire, drenched in hazy pastel hues. – Lina Fisher
