Sundance 2024 Review: Black Box Diaries – “It’s all essential”

Shiori Ito appears in appears in Black Box Diaries by Shiori Ito, an official selection of the World Documentary Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute. Photo by Tsutomu Harigaya

The opening of Shiori Ito‘s feature documentary debut, Black Box Diaries opens with a warning. This review will do the same.  To those who have experienced sexual assault be mindful that this writing may be triggering.  Says Ito, “Close your eyes and take a deep breath if you need to.  That has helped me many times.  Now let me tell you my story…”

What closely follows is the security camera footage of a car pulling up outside a Sheraton Hotel and a man basically dragging Ito from the back seat as she staggers through the doors while he pulls her.  Inside this hotel is where her nightmare happens.  Shiori Ito’s film is one of true investigative journalism.  What is unusual is that she is investigating her own rape.  She is doing this not only to bring to justice her attacker, but also to bring about change to Japan’s 110-year-old law where non-consent is not enough to prove rape (and where 13 is the age of consent I might add!).

On May 29, 2017 Ito went public with information about her assault.  Her attacker was Noriyuki Yamaguchi, a former Washington Bureau Chief for the Tokyo Broadcasting System.  He also happened to be a journalist who was close to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, convenient for him no doubt.  In the weeks leading up to her press conference, Ito started filming diaries on her iPhone.  She didn’t do this with the intention of documenting this process.  Instead, the videos were for her safety.  As countless women can attest, when you accuse a man with the power of rape, it can be a dangerous and long road ahead.  Even her own sister warned her not to go public as she didn’t want her to be stigmatized.  But, Ito pushed through.  She knew it was the right thing.

After the press conference, she felt the weight of her actions.  She listened to commentary on her appearance -“For a rape victim, she showed too much chest”- and when she talked of the outdated laws of Japan others felt she shouldn’t speak ill of the country, one man saying “she should be choked.”  She had to move out of her apartment, and could barely go outside.  But, in the time since her rape, she is used to not being believed.  Investigators initially refused her report, refused to investigate.  It’s a reason why, in Japan, only 4% of victims report their cases to the authorities.  So, Ito starts taking things into her own hands.

The black box refers to “a system whose internal workings are hidden or not readily understood.”  As a journalist, Ito started trying to open them.  She attempts to interview the head of police, she talks to politicians.  She starts trying to dismantle this patriarchal system that is stacked against her.  She has some help from an unnamed investigator who was transferred from her case and some fellow journalists, but most of this is Ito following the leads of her own story.

Not all of Black Box Diaries is cinematic.  A lot of the film takes place with hidden camera or secret audio recordings.  But, it’s all essential.  Considering this case took 8 years to resolve, it’s a wonder that first-time filmmaker Ito could craft a film that is only 103 minutes.  There are moments of emotion, moments of exposition, even moments of parliament archival footage all pieced together in a way that makes this story feel comprehensive yet still very personal.  Ito’s moments talking to the camera, relating exactly what she is feeling with every breakthrough, every setback are intensely vulnerable.

Yet, to call Ito brave seems trite.  It’s not enough.  This woman took on, not only a man in the upper echelons of power, but an entire country.  As the #MeToo movement gains traction, weaving itself through society and indeed her story, it’s uplifting to see that she ends her journey with far more supporters than when she started.  But, it’s important to note that she started as one.  One strong woman who made difficult choices, who was an important instigator of change for the many.

Black Box Diaries premiered at the Sundance Film Festival January 20, 2024.  For more information head to festival.sundance.org