This film was a breed of mysticism and magical realism that you so rarely see anymore. One that demands the viewer to take time and weigh the details in their mind (so much so, that i had to draft this review in a word document, rather than straight into the MDL textbox). One that provides ample fruit for analysis upon reconsumption. One that requires absolute mastery of cinematography and characters.

“Are we really in the present? I don’t know. We are losing the certainty of being in the present. It could be the past. It could be the future.”

Put in the most simplest of terms, this was a story of reincarnation and rebirth. In it, we see two converging timelines of parallel souls anchored to the forest in which the story takes place. At first, it’s subtle. Mere flickers of visions across Joan’s consciousness. But towards the end, we see it leak into her reality more and more, until she comes to a revelation. The “vision” herb/fungus for which she felt a desperate and indescribable need to find (“I don’t know. I don’t know. I need it.”) wasn’t for her happiness. Nor even mankind’s.

But rather to heal and cleanse the forest of the tragedy that simultaneously happened long in the past and in the present (“I’m looking at two suns existing simultaneously. One in the water, the other on top of the hill.”). The tragedy that created unrest in the forest. The tragedy that seeped agony and pain even into the next iteration of their souls. Afterall, “love never stops.” Even when it looks still. It’s also the tragedy that the old man in the forest comments about it being a sad thought that when he passed, no one would be left to remember those graves on top of the hill. The tragedy of the young father-to-be killed in a hunting accident. And that of the young mother who (presumably) died shortly after giving birth to their son.

The son that the old crone, an old entity who sees not through her eyes but through her mystical connection to the forest that her life is so intrinsically tied to (honestly, she reminds of Mother Willow from the Pocahontas cartoon), carried through the tunnel into the near past. The son who is adopted by the old man telling the story in the forest, and who is given the name Rin. The son who found his way into a familial dynamic with the reincarnated souls of his parents.

And when the 3 should-have-been family members finally reunited and found themselves under the old and cleansing Juniper tree that they have all been drawn to throughout the story, that’s when “vision” is born. Or, the final merging of these 2 parallel timelines. And we see the spirit of the young father-to-be, smiling at what is finally possible, and walking off into the woods – his soul finally able to move on.

And what better method of rebirth, than that of fire – which has been intrinsically related to rebirth in both worldwide mythologies and in nature. And fueled by the wind that is Aki, who guided all the key players into making it possible.

And I think what's great about this film, is that this is all just one interpretation. But they all have the potential to deeply move a viewer. For instance, a fellow reviewer who analyzes the story through a lens that does not include reincarnation.