Tsuburo

DIR: Yamada Masafumi | Japan | 2003 | 68 min.
In Japanese with English Subtitles.

SHOWTIMES:
Tues. Sept. 28 | 9:30 pm | Pacific Cinémathèque
Thu. Oct. 3 | 1:40 pm | Granville 7 Cinema, Theatre 5

This is not a film for the film fest novice. For many filmmakers and visual artists, modern dance can be difficult to understand. It looks creative, it’s like nothing they’ve ever seen before, and may be technically perfect – but often, they still aren’t informed enough to articulate what the piece is about. Sometimes you can still feel it though. This is also an exact description of Tsuburo. I try to avoid reading a film’s synopsis until after the screening, just to see how accurate it is. And in this case, Tsuburo delivers exactly what was written, but the synopsis was also totally misleading. What might be misunderstood as a plot, is actually the description of “the scenario.” The same scenario throughout most of the film.

On the other hand, this is likely one of the most “artistic” films at VIFF. For those that get all hot-and-bothered by this sort of indie-film aesthetic (new film graduates, photographers and the like), this film is mastery. The technical achievement of the imagery—dim lighting, water on everything, believable spatial representation, and flatness of tone (and very intentional highlights of colour)—are in themselves, pure craftsmanship. Those who know how hard it is to create innovative and emotionally evocative soundscapes, not using conventional sound, will recognize that Yamada Masafumi is showing off. The use of low-tech props makes this a timeless statement about whatever it is you think it is about. In this case, there is an inescapable sense of entrapment, but left entirely open for interpretation, as influenced by the emotional state of the viewer. It is contemporary art. And perhaps a “film for filmmakers” with educated edits, surrealist references and constant auditory overload. The constantly ticking clock that cannot give you any sense of time, will either captivate you at the cleverness of Masafumi’s evocative technique and cinematic metaphor, or bore you to the point of feeling frustratingly trapped in your theatre seat. Rest assured that, either way, you did get it.