With his searing ‘period’ parable, Tsukamoto viscerally reckons with how the flames of any war corrode everything and everyone their burning light touches, long after they’ve been extinguished.

It is not an easy watch, but, driven by performances that range from haunting and affecting, to terrifying and grotesque, it is a powerful one.

A well-crafted film with a potent message.

No punches are pulled in Shinya Tsukamoto’s bleak, emotionally haggard drama Shadow of Fire.