and themes In a 1967 review, critic and filmmaker Nagisa Ōshima criticised Imamura for using (and failing at) the technique of documentary filming due to the film's lacking a theme, and the notion that a theme could emerge halfway during filming. Following a 2012 US release tour of A Man Vanishes, Ronnie Scheib of Variety saw an "explosively provocative film" which "progressively and aggressively blurs distinctions between documentary and fiction". Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called it "wildly startling in its execution" and an "increasingly complex look at a man, his culture and his country", haunted by "questions of cinematic realism and how the camera changes everything". Film scholar Alexander Jacoby read the depiction of shamanism in the film as a recurring theme in Imamura's works, showing "that superstition endured despite the technological advances of modern Japan". Awards Best Director award for Shōhei Imamura at the 1967 Mainichi Film Awards Home media A region free NTSC DVD release was issued in October 2011 in the Masters of Cinema series. A region 1 NTSC DVD was released in 2012 by Icarus Films. References External links Further reading 1967 films Japanese black-and-white films Films directed by Shohei Imamura Nikkatsu films 1960s Japanese films