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Doubt obscures these brighter hopes, as much as Bright Future struggles to find a rhythm and identity beyond its strange poetry. Yuji, a young man tangled up in his dreams, has invested in the world of the imaginary, to the detriment of the depressing reality of his work at the factory. In the grip of Mamoru, a charismatic colleague who raises a poisonous jellyfish, he indulges in petty thefts. Mamoru, stopped for the murder of their boss, entrusts his invaluable jellyfish to Yuji, before ending it all. Yuji continues Mamoru's noxious plans, until the day when he meets his friend's father. The two strike up a strong relationship. Kurosawa tried all the film genres, from yakuza dramas to comedy (schoolboy), before finding inspiration and notoriety in the register of the fantastic (Charisma, Cure, Kairo). Bright Future, an unclassifiable object, is a cross of fable, social drama and fantastic. The presence of the late Mamoru, contaminating the film space with his spectral aura, translates this progressive slip of reality. Even dead, the young man continues to exert a destructive influence on Yuji. One thinks of Cure, a reference corroborated by the proliferation of jellyfish in the city canals as symbols of the evil which converges on the cities, gradually spreading like gangrene. In a general way, the border between the imaginary and real worlds proves to be thin. The audience doesn't really know in which dimension they're in. As for what's onscreen, does it reveal Yuji's fantasies or is it reality? The absence of reference points prevails, as much in the existence of young people as in the audience, at the very least disorientated, then frankly wearied by the succession of more and more insipid sequences. What did Kurosawa want to create? An intimate drama about the relationship between father and son? A total absence of mise en scène is a disservice to his intention. It certainly won't be the Year of the Jellyfish.
 
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