The problem is this: Japan's population desperately needs young labor power to replace its aging population. But because the Japanese do not—for the most part—like foreigners, sections of the economy that require home production are unable to find a good solution to the labor crisis. Kazuhiro Soda's superb documentary Oyster Factory investigates this crisis with great but very quiet detail.

We see oysters hauled out of the sea, we see them cracked open by grannies and granpas on their knees or sitting on cushions. We also see the faces of young Chinese laborers. Though they have lots of energy, they look unhappy. They are in a hostile country. The locals call them thieves or lazy. These are the niggers of the seaside village—if a group of people exploit you and call you inferior at the same time, you are a nigger.

But business is business. The oysters must be opened, collected in buckets, poured into box containers, and sent to the market. The operation is just brutal. As you watch the documentary, you also feel and see the wider picture of life on earth in the Anthropocene: the human is truly the ape that no other animal has a chance against. These oysters have evolved over millions of years just be pulled out of the sea like it ain't no thing by this ape with a big noggin.

Oyster Factory opens tonight at the Northwest Film Forum and regrettably only runs one more night after that, Dec. 17. It deserved a full week, and to also run during the week of the premiere of Rogue One, its complete opposite.