Japanese neurosis Nagai is a successful head of a software company. But it's not the best of times. The company appears to be close to bankruptcy. Some employees are fired by Nagai himself, others, despite his protest, resign themselves. His failures are also on the personal front. My wife and daughter live separately. Nagai gets involved with Keichi’s strange boyfriend, who is instructed to sleep with his wife for a large sum of money. He'll do anything for money. He has psychopathological traits - he is obsessed with killing his father. He's ready to take Nagai for his father. These three - Nagai, his wife and boyfriend Keichie trying to understand their feelings for each other.
The Desert Moon is a tale of urban Japanese neurosis. Nagai paid a lot for the success of his company, he has a lot to treasure and a lot to lose, but in the pursuit of success he forgot about the family. The reason for his conflict with his wife, however, is not completely clear. It seems that his wife herself suffers from neurosis and the source of this is not necessarily her husband. A strange suspended state and predetermines the quirkiness of the relationship between the characters of the film. You can easily find Japanese roots here. For example, in Tanizaki’s revolutionary novel The Key, an elderly hero deliberately tried to set his wife up with a young guy to arouse jealousy and desire.
The Desert Moon is a rich field for psychoanalytic theories. Of particular importance here is the theme of the father. Here she has a classic Freudian expression - Keichie wants to kill his father. The reasons are not fully understood either. Many of the details in the film are not developed. Nevertheless, the Japanese landscape has given this issue its gloomy charm and rigidity. There are two vectors. Keichie wants destruction, and Nagai's wife wants peace. However, the opposition of these vectors does not lead to the birth of happiness or the birth of truth. The director denies his characters the right to them, although, perhaps, leaves a ghostly chance. In general, it is characteristic of modern Japanese culture to not give the keys to overcoming the crisis. It seems that this work needs to be done by the viewer.
7 out of 10