Once the lead singer of a thrash rock band, Jonen is now a Buddhist monk having a hard time reconciling his past with his new life. When he decides to stage his own rock show, over objections from his wife (who begs him to keep his clothes on) and community members who find it unseemly that a monk would want to rock, he must confront the tension between the life he has chosen and the music that seems to have chosen him. Fresh from Sundance, this probing tale of one man's journey to reconcile the disparate facets of his existence explores the conflict between traditional demands and personal aspirations in contemporary, small-town Japan. Shot with an understated eye for natural beauty and spiked with moments of gentle humor, Abraxas is a compassionate and genuinely insightful reminder that all of us are continually renewing ourselves.