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Magino
Village—A Tale
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1986 / Color / 16mm / 222 min / Japanese with English subtitles
Production Company: Ogawa Productions
Director: Ogawa Shinsuke
Producer: Fuseya Hiroo
Music: Togashi Masahiro
Photography: Tamura Masaki
Lighting: Sato Yuzuru Sound: Kubota Yukio, Kikuchi Nobuyuki
Art Director: Tatsumi Shiro, Mikado Sadatoshi
Cast: Hijikata Tatsumi, Miyashita Junko, Tamura Takahiro, Kawarazaki Choichiro, Ishibashi Renji, Shimada Shogo
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Thirteen
years in the making, this is Ogawa Productions' masterpiece. Few films-anywhere,
anytime-have rendered history with such complexity. Oral traditions
that have circulated in Magino Village for generations are related
through storytelling, butoh dance, and fictional recreations. The
latter mix famous actors with the villagers, who take the roles of
their own ancestors. The filmmakers go so far as to explore the furthest
reaches of Magino's history in an archeological dig out in the rice
fields. This kind of science adds a perspective that somehow avoids
feeling like a cold demystification of the folkloric and spiritual
dimensions of village life. The scientific microscopy of rice flowers
inspires speechless awe, and when university professors suddenly burst
out of the bushes to explain the likely origins of a story, they only
end up confirming the reality of Magino's living history. The entirety
of this superbly complex film is clocked by the rhythm of the harvest
seasons and the sun's arc across the vast Yamagata sky.
[Abé Mark Nornes] |
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COPYRIGHT:Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival Organizing Committee |
