Saturday, July 18, 2020

Japan Cuts Shorts: WHEEL MUSIC, WOLF'S CALLING and LOST THREE MAKE ONE FOUND


WHEEL MUSIC
Nao Yoshigai took a bicycle ride through his home town in order to record it's rhythms and sites before the Olympic games descended upon the town and potentially changed it forever.  Wonderful travelog has a glorious sense of place. Rarely have I ever watched a film and felt as though I was in a articular place at a particular time as I was with this film. while they film can have an odd moment that seems random or unconnected, it still manages to fit in perfectly because as we all know our home towns can be like that.

Recommended.


WOLF'S CALLING
I have to say at the start that if you see this you must stay through the end credits since there is a two minute sequences after they roll,

My number one must see short disappointed.Director Toshiaki Toyoda's response to being arrested for having a gun that was an old family heirloom  is a visual and sonic delight. However the sound and image don't seem to add to anything. Rarely have I ever wanted to ring up a filmmaker and simply say- what ever it was you were trying to say isn't on the screen as much as I did after seeing this film. Don't get me wrong I loved how it looked and sounded so much that I watched it twice - but I never really got a sense of what I was supposed to think or feel beyond this looked and sounded cool.

LOST THREE MAKE ONE FOUND
A road trip with director Atsushi Kuwayama in a camper van as he looks for the Sacred Fountain of Fornalha in Southern Portugal. Said to heal heartache the fountain always seems just out of reach.

Glorious time with good people this is a film that surprised the hell out of me.  I didn't know what to expect and simply put it on because I was watching shorts. I ended up falling in love with the film and the marvelous people that Kuwayama ran into.  I loved this film so much I kept hoping that the run time of twenty six minutes was wrong and that it was going to be an hour or two hours and twenty six minutes.

Magical.

Highly recommended.

To see  these or any of the other Japan Cuts films go here.

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