Japanese writer-director Koji Fukada's new film *Nagi Notes* premiered on 13 May at the Cannes Film Festival. The story follows Yuri (Shizuka Ishibashi), who visits the remote town of Nagi to sit for a sculptor friend, Yoriko (Takako Matsu). The film explores how characters use art—from drawings to sculptural busts—as a medium to express unspoken desires, grief, and identity, with key scenes set at the Nagi Museum of Contemporary Art featuring a permanent installation by Arakawa and Madeline Gins.
This matters because *Nagi Notes* continues Fukada's exploration of art as a therapeutic and communicative tool, drawing parallels to Ryusuke Hamaguchi's *Drive My Car*. By centering the narrative on the creative process and the emotional weight carried by unfinished artworks, the film offers a nuanced meditation on how art shapes and reveals human relationships. Its Cannes premiere positions it as a significant art-world-adjacent cultural event, highlighting the intersection of contemporary visual art and cinema.