[KineJapan] Nami no koe

Markus Nornes amnornes at umich.edu
Tue Jun 25 09:09:51 EDT 2013


I never thought about subtitling. The most powerful aspect of the film
is the direct address. Direct address in documentary is always a
person looking at the camera, which stands in for US. The camera as
conduit between a person "out there" and us,

Here, direct address functions completely differently. A person with
311 experience is communing with another survivor. Here the camera
stands in for one or the other person. We are invited to participate
from their subject positions. To join the conversation, and thus the
communion. At first it's uncanny and you feel like an interloper. But
after a while you tune in and it's really quite wonderful. Perhaps
this process of adjusting to this peculiar logic of direct address
will be a function of the long running time.

In any case, the direct address works so powerfully in this case
because they are both looking right at you and telling their stories,
and the duration of those gazes seems important. Bouncing between the
top and bottom of the frame will surely mess with this. We'll see.

Markus



On Jun 25, 2013, at 5:35 AM, fujioka asako <asakof at tkd.att.ne.jp> wrote:

> In response to Mark's comment on the film in Yamagata's competition, I'd
> like to mention that _Nami no koe_ is part of a trilogy: _Nami no oto_,
> _Nami no koe_, and the final film _Utau hito_. All films deal with
> storytelling -- the idea that people tell stories to _someone_. In the first
> two films, people start out by sharing their 2011 tsunami experiences, and
> go on to speak about their lives and life philosophies. They speak in
> on-on-one conversations, to people who are close to them (family members,
> close friends, work colleagues) or if the filmmakers did not find adequate
> partners, they themselves became mirrors to bounce off stories. In the third
> film of the trilogy (which is also already completed), the stories told are
> local folk stories carried on from the past.
> I'm not sure if the films work well with English subtitles, as these are
> really oral films and the nuances you can feel in the emotions between the
> conversationalists are the hook that draws you into their life stories. You
> get a real feel for their relationships in their daily lives -- sometimes
> funny, sometimes endearing.
> Also, the films are interesting experiments that deal with body language. I
> find Japanese people rarely seat facing opposite each other and speak their
> minds. As a young person, I was told that it is rude to look at another's
> face squarely, and have no memory of having done so with my parents. The
> filmmakers speak about how people sitting side by side driving in a car
> often open up to each other. In many ways this series of films is an archive
> of testimonies, but more so a window into diverse people's lives -- with
> much respect and compassion.
>
> The films will be shown at Kobe Eiga Shiryokan this weekend as part of a
> retrospective (prospective) of Hamaguchi Ryusuke.
> Fujioka Asako
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> +++++++++++++++
>
> Date: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 14:15:47 -0400
> From: Markus Nornes <amnornes at umich.edu>
> Subject: [KineJapan] Fwd: YIDFF News June 24, 2013 [Special Issue]
> To: "kinejapan at lists.service.ohio-state.edu"
>    <kinejapan at lists.service.ohio-state.edu>
> Message-ID:
>    <CANoSnpDHU+oBBKhuj90JGGk_-edxzczGSBTaOVYahr4JJ2hmpw at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
>
> Yamagata has released information on their competition for October. The
> Japanese entry is Voices from the Waves (Nami no koe), by Hamaguchi Ryusuke
> and Sakai Ko. I haven't read much from the many online interviews and blog
> entries on the film, so I don't write with much confidence. But what I
> thought were a set of short films based on geography, yet released under the
> Nami no koe title, now appear to be one big massive film.
>
> But don't confuse the 213 minute running time with monumentality. It's the
> most intimate of films. And one of the most experimental of the 311 films.
> The rough cuts I saw were nothing but two people talking to each other, face
> to face, and with almost no prompting from the filmmakers. The directors sit
> two tsunami survivors in community halls or libraries, and let them talk to
> each other.
>
> There are only three basic shots. An establishing shot taken at a 90 degree
> angle to the two speakers. And then shot reverse shots where one of the
> speakers looks directly at the camera. Through a fascinating cinematic
> trick, the people speak in direct address to the camera even though they are
> actually talking to?and looking at?their interlocutor. It's a very strange
> feeling, best to be experienced without knowing exactly how they did it.
>
> This formal aspect to the film?added to the parallel formality of two
> Japanese strangers talking to each other?makes this one of the better 311
> films. It's certainly the most innovative. But I have serious doubts about
> the running length. Very few people are going to last through four hours.
> It signals a complete lack of distance to their material. A kind of
> shiryo-sei that regrettably blinds the filmmakers to the desires, needs and
> capabilities of their viewers. Can you tell I'm bumming?
>
> In the rough, I thought this looked like a very promising film. I'm pretty
> disappointed by this choice. Obviously, they needed an editor.
>
> Markus
>
>
>
>
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