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Black Box Diaries (2024)

Black Box Diaries (2024)

7.7

A journalist investigates her own sexual assault case in this personal, vulnerable documentary

Movie

Japan, United Kingdom
English, Japanese
Documentary
2024

TLDR

Thank you, Shiori Ito, for breaking open the black box.

What it's about

Despite her case initially dismissed by the police, journalist Shiori Ito investigates her own sexual assault, which transforms into a landmark case that sparks the Me Too movement in Japan.

The take

Continuing her fight to tell the world the truth about her sexual assault case, journalist Shiori Ito released Black Box Diaries. Like her book, it’s a powerful documentary. Filmed with actual CCTV evidence, with some witness accounts, and with recordings she made while investigating her case, Ito’s first foray into film is personal, vulnerable, and intimate, going through the events as it naturally unfolds. While it is depressing to witness the ways investigators, lawyers, politicians and other people have failed her, Black Box Diaries immediately reveals Ito’s resolve for the truth, and how taxing the toll was for survivors that chose to take the same path.

What stands out

The actual handwriting from her journal is occasionally scribbled over, starting with the very first shots. It’s a personal touch, but it’s also helpful to structure the entire film.

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