In Mange-kyo, Sento Naomi (formerly Kawase Naomi) brings four people together: herself in the role of the film-maker, the photographer Arimoto Shinya and his models Mika and Machiko. Sento records their interaction, that she also largely manipulates herself.The two models are girls aged about fifteen who have grown up in very different circumstances. Sento asks them about their lives. By provoking them from time to time, she tries to achieve a new understanding between the two of them and to record that on film. She also drives the interaction between her characters and between herself and them to the extreme. Arimoto, who in his work wants to show his models as they are, becomes increasingly irritated by Sento’s manipulations. Slowly but surely, the crew of Sento’s film also becomes involved with this conflict. Sento, no longer able to keep the project entirely under control, is forced to abandon the film. She seeks and finds a new direction to continue her work. That leads to a new concept of what it means to be a film-maker.
