ultradaikichi

I was reading an excerpt from an essay written by Obayashi which was posted in the lobby of the theatre where I was blessed enough to catch a screening of a 35mm print.

It’s well-known that Obayashi conceived of the key ideas for Hausu after his daughter came to him, scared by her own reflection baring its teeth at her in the mirror. He wanted to capture the strangeness of an inanimate object moving and attacking somebody - an object moving that should be unable to.

When Obayashi was young, movies were called 活動写真 (katsudou shashin) which was the late-Meiji direct translation of the English word “motion picture”. The aftershock of still photos coming to life still lingered. Flash forward to the 70s. He believed that movies had become too ordinary, and that filmgoers have forgotten that appeal.

Compared to their inception, movies have become able to capture deeper themes of society, and the human condition. Conversely, he argues that perhaps it is because we’ve purposely been expressing on film things that should be done in other media that we’ve lost that fundamental life force, that “movement” that makes movies, movies. That would be a pity, says Obayashi. I agree. (translated loosely)

This movie is as motion picture as movies get: it will shock and bewilder on the first watch. Obayashi expertly channels that shock and awe the first movies must have had through the uncanny. It’s firebrand filmmaking. I’m so grateful to be able to find something new every time I watch.