Hiromichi Nakao has been quietly and almost secretly building a filmography based on the magical ability of cinema to redeem the harshness of everyday life. His limited output—three short films and one concise feature film so far—explores the experiences of a solitary filmmaker (Nakao himself), a patient observer of the minuscule miracles that lurk beneath the surface of everyday life. However, unlike other movements that have turned the film diary—stripped down, precarious, and pompously literary—and the filmeur—bohemian, gleaner of reality, armed with a deceptive rhetoric of spontaneity and authenticity—into a cliché that is almost exhausting, Nakao's interests lie elsewhere. The Japanese filmmaker champions a fantasy-like, often naive universe, allowing us, through his playful gaze, to enjoy the treasures lurking in our immediate surroundings. In Ghosts, the filmmaker extends the narrative and aesthetic approach of his previous films and develops a story in which the realistic capture of what happens in front of the lens diminishes in importance compared to the artificial recreation of what can hardly exist, typical of special effects that, of course, eschew all spectacularity. Ghosts combines a contemplative gaze and a poetic DIY approach that seems to unite kawaii with a tribute to the origins of cinema. The film, which won an award at the latest PIA festival and had its world premiere in Spain, confirms the vitality of Japanese cinema, where talents like Hiromichi Nakao continue to flourish and breathe meaning into the idea of ​​cinema as an "art of craftsmanship." GABRIEL DOMÉNECH