naomi kawase's Kya Ka Ra Ba A

[Robin Gatto]

Thank you to Aaron for his kind comments on Naomi Kawase's Kya Ka Ra Ba A
This film is currently playing at the Forum des Images in Paris
>From what I understand, it's a Sento Inc/Arte Coproduction and I assume it
will  air on the French/German channel  later on.
In her career Naomi has been alternating experimental, deeply
autobiographical and more or less self-inspired fiction films. Kya Ka Ra Ba
A is a kind of personal diary in which Naomi lays bare all her angst linked
to her "orphan-like" life. Though she was raised by her grandparents, she
mourns the absence of her parents very deeply. This film is about her
emotional, inner search for her lost father. The second part of the film is
a kind of set-up, staged discussion between herself and a philosophical
tattoo-artist who ends up tattooing her... though we don't see much of the
process.
I think the end of the film, with Naomi  running naked and tattooed in the
fields was just a wink at her own tattooed father. But a great wink... It's
nice to see a woman like Naomi subvert the yakuza imagery of the tattoo!

Maybe persons knowing Naomi or the film more deeply could give us a more
acute insight into this fascinating film which is by in no way bad or
lacking in inspiration.

Robin