Japanese Experimental Films: Iel Jikken EigaTour '87 Program I

This two-partprogram, continuing October 9, represents the third annual tour ofJapanese experimental cinema organized by Innocent Eyes and Lenses inChicago. Program notes are by Tatsu Aoki, Programming Director, InnocentEyes and Lenses. Program I is followed by two filmsby Naoto Yamakawa, A Girl She Is 100% and Attack on a Bakery. Mac the Movie (Taku Furukawa, 1985, 3 min):Animation created on a PC, in which simple images express their rhythmand spirit rather than their meaning. Cine-Massage (Junichi Okuyama,1985, 10 min): Camera and film inter-relate: the camera is massaged bythe film at 24 frames per second, the film is massaged by the camera.Xerophtalmie (Akihiko Morishita, 1984, 7 min, Silent): Morishitaattempts "a cinematic quotation" by assembling a variety of elementsinto film. At Anyplace 4 (Mako Idemitsu, 1978, 12 min): A visionary mimereveals the mundane repetitions of a typical housewife. Ie Kaiki(Family-Return) (Hideo Ishii, 1984, 18 min, Super-8): The filmmakerviews this piece as "more than a film," hoping to achieve a kind ofuniversal understanding from those who view it. Data (Makoto Tezuka,1985, 11 min, Silent): The viewer as detective must search for thedrama: a thrilling adventure in cinema. Un Image (Isao Yamada, 1985, 11min, Silent): The mysteries of shadow are captured in the frame. Sway(Toshio Matsumoto, 1985, 8 min): Matsumoto's successful expression ofliving energy and intensities, created by the "sway" of mind, physicalobjects, and metaphor. Tatsu Aoki A Girl She Is100% (100% no Onna no Ko): Yamakawa uses both live-action and tinted andpixillated stills to construct what he calls "a sentimental cityromance," about a guy who passes a girl in the back streets of Tokyo anddecides, too late, that she's 100% for him. The incident inspires aseries of imagined scenarios. "(An) inventive, economical rumination onurban encounters and the mystery of love..." (J. Hoberman, VillageVoice). "This barbed little essay on the tricks and traps offiction...also lays into a number of social stereotypes to do withfashion, 'lifestyle' and male sexism. Its concision and wit ought toreduce Robbe-Grillet to tears" (Tony Rayns, Sight and Sound). Directed,Written and Photographed by Naoto Yamakawa. With Yoshinari Kuwamoto,Shigeru Muroi. (1983, 11 min, In Japanese with English titles, Color andB & W) Attack on a Bakery (Panya Shugeki): Twoout-of-work, hungry laborers decide to pull a bakery heist but theirplans go awry when an indecisive customer keeps them waiting. To theirsurprise, the bakery owner is a generous Communist with an unhealthypassion for Wagner. "Yamakawa finds humor not only in thelaborer's...confused and aggressive thoughts...but also in playing offsound against image. As the laborer comments on the vascillating girlcustomer, for instance, Yamakawa shows the girl oscillating between herreality and his perception of her within the same shot, the imageexactly matching the diktat of the soundtrack" (Tony Rayns, Sight andSound).

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