THE SOUND OF INSECTS is the incredible story of how the mummified corpse of a 40-year-old man was discovered by a hunter in one of the most remote parts of the country. The dead man's detailed notes reveal that he actually committed suicide through self-imposed starvation in the preceding summer. Liechti's film is a stunning rapprochement of the novel "Miira Ni Narumade" by Shimada Masahiko, which itself is based upon a true event: a cinematic manifesto for life, challenged by the main characters radical renunciation of life itself.