Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo

Directed by: Jessica Oreck

2009 | Japan/USA | 90 minutes | Unrated

Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo delves into the ineffable mystery of Japan's age-old love affair with insects. A labyrinthine meditation on nature, beauty, philosophy and Japanese culture that might just make you question if your 'instinctive' repulsion to bugs is merely a trick of western conditioning.

"If Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo sounds like some retro Japanese creature feature, guess again. This is a gentle docu-tribute to Japan's age-old connection to the insect world, a meditative piece that is at times hypnotically beautiful. The film mixes fascinating shots of Japan's most popular insects -- dragonflies, fireflies, crickets, butterflies and, of course, beetles -- with related visuals of local daily life and rituals. The point, taken with quiet matter-of- factness, is that nature has always been an inextricable part of Japanese culture, religion and philosophy, with insects being an ideal representation of the country's traditional attention to detail and harmony." - Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times.