Pan shots

[tim.iles at utoronto.ca]

Kitano Takeshi has done some interesting things with breaking POV
expectations, in _Kikujiro no natsu_, I think--in _Brother_ there's an
interesting use of POV when Kitano's character first arrives at his
brother's "hide away," where we see the younger brother addressing Aniki,
and then--from Aniki's point of view--we see only the lower parts of the
gang members' bodies (because his head is lowered, and so that is all he
would physically be able to see.) The camera then shifts to show us Aniki
seated at the table. (Speaking ftom memory here, may have not given a
complete description.)

This seems to be a way for the camera to incorporate both the "narrated"
and the "narrator", and I wonder whether the character/POV-pan/character
sequence wouldn't be much the same--making the character seve as both
subject and object of the camera's gaze (the only true subject in film?)

But I don't think this is particularly "Japanese"--this seems to be a
technique I can recall from American or even European films, where the
return to the character gives us the character's reaction to the POV pan. 

Anyone?


Tim