【Movie Review: Exit 8】I want to get out of here

Maurice Ravel's "Boléro".
A Spanish-style ballet piece said to have been written by the French composer Ravel for a Russian ballerina friend. The greatest characteristic of this piece is the repetition of a single theme; as the snare drum keeps the rhythm, orchestral instruments take turns, gradually building into a harmony and becoming a magnificent ensemble.

Yes, repeating the same theme—over and over and over again.

Anyone who has ridden the Tokyo subway has likely experienced the feeling of going around in circles and getting lost.

Wait, I feel like I passed through here before...

Even though I should be heading in the direction indicated by the arrow labeled 'Exit No. X', I never seem to arrive. My heart gradually begins to make an unsettling, restless sound. Will I actually make it in time for my appointment?

"Where is the exit?"

The goal is the exit. The protagonist, a "lost man," has suddenly heard news of a pregnancy from his ex-girlfriend and is heading to the hospital where she is. Over the phone, his ex-girlfriend's voice is clearly shaken. The man's thoughts also begin to wander, searching for an exit.
What should I do?
I don't know.
I don't know.
Anyway, I have to get to the hospital now—where is the exit? Where is the exit?

A yellow glowing sign overhead reads "Exit 8".
As I walk through the underground passage, I see a sign for "Exit 0". Thinking, 'I'm still at 0?', I continue on and pass a thin, expressionless man in a white shirt and gray slacks, carrying a bag, walking toward me from the opposite direction.

I continue on and see a sign for "Exit 1". Just as I think I'm heading in the right direction, I turn the corner into a corridor and see someone walking toward me from the other side under the "Exit 8" sign—
Huh? Didn't I just pass that person a moment ago?
Without being able to process it, I just keep moving forward. Coin lockers, trash cans. A photo booth. I "feel" like I've passed these before, too.

I turn the corner, expecting the "Exit 2" sign.

Wrong.

Instead of "Exit 2", what I found was a sign for "Exit 0".
Why! Why am I back at 0!
What is going on!
My thoughts can't keep up. I'm aiming for the exit, but I can't get out. I'm just walking around in circles—
At that moment, I happen to notice the "Information" board in the station. The strange conditions written there—

Do not overlook any anomalies
If you find an anomaly, turn back immediately
If you do not find an anomaly, do not turn back
Exit through Exit 8

What is an 【anomaly】?

The sense of relief when you find an exit is somewhat similar to when you find an answer.
When you try to find an answer but can't, you fall into a feeling of walking around in circles, thinking 'it's not this, it's not that'.
When will I find the answer? Which way should I go?
While oscillating between such despair and hope, we must continue to breathe and play the game called life.

My 6-year-old daughter always holds her head when she tries to solve math problems.
She panics, saying 'I don't get it at all!', so—
I try to have her rewrite the numbers as apples, saying, 'Let's do it one by one'.
'You went shopping at the supermarket. You bought 5 apples at Market A and 6 apples at Market B. How many apples did you buy in total?'
By giving her the hint to replace mere numbers with something familiar like apples, my daughter began to count the apples, one by one, and finally arrived at the answer of 11.

Reaching "Exit 8" is not necessarily the final goal.
Getting out of the exit and going to the hospital where the ex-girlfriend is—that is the next stage.
What the two of them do after that is yet another stage.
Just as we cleared them one by one, starting from "Exit 0" to "Exit 8", even if it's frustrating, that might ultimately be the most reliable shortcut.
And there must always be a hint nearby to help you escape from a negative loop.

"Boléro" has been one of my favorite pieces of classical music for a long time. I think the real thrill of an orchestra is the sense of unity created by layering the sounds of various instruments, resulting in a magnificent scale, but as for "Boléro", the beginning consists of solo parts for each wind instrument. Because you can purely enjoy the sound of the instruments, there is no room for deception. It feels like having a set meal at a restaurant that doesn't use any additives.

The constant rhythm and repeating theme fuel the anxiety of looping through the same underground passage. Can the "lost man" who has entered a strange world really make it out through "Exit 8"? And can he make it to his ex-girlfriend?
What is the answer the man arrived at after being lost—

I want to quietly savor this strange world by myself one more time.
Excluding the over-air-conditioned movie theater and my daughter, who kept talking to me.