It is surreal story in which a cardboard box becomes the perfect shell for men who want to withdraw from society, and gaze without being seen.

However, the path is fraught with challenges: a deceptive doctor, a cunning military man, and an alluring woman who tempts him.

In 2024, coincidentally the 100th anniversary of Kobo Abe's birth, Gakuryu Ishii finally made the film adaptation of the novel.

[5] The Box Man had its world premiere on 17 February 2024, as part of the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, in Berlinale Special.

[2][6][7] Lida Bach reviewing in Movie Break rated the film 6.5/10 and wrote, "A box, far from being a dead end, is an entrance to another world, so Gakuryū Ishii draws the audience of his Kafkaesque adaptation of Kōbō Abe's underground classic into a psychological labyrinth of fetish, fixation and voyeurism and integrates them into the surreal scenario as observers in their own cinema box.