Unedited notes on the Noda Shinkichi’s retrospective (October 2023, Yamagata). Day 3.

As a sort of work in progress, draft for a possible future research, or simply as a trace of a significant and very rare viewing experience, I have decided to publish, unedited, the notes and reflections I took while attending the Noda Shinkichi‘s retrospective, organized at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival, in October 2023.
A total of 38 films were screened in 5 days (you can read the synopsis of each film here).
Below the notes I took on day 3 (my thoughts on the first two days are here):

Day 3

Tying Land and Sea 1960
The film opens like a Shōchiku movie, but the colour palette is not very poppy.
Various ports in Japan: Yokohama, Toyama, Kobe, Niigata, Hiroshima, Hokkaido, Nagoya, Shikoku, etc.
Interesting how in the film, the narration uses the term ura nihon to describe cities on the West coast, nowadays it is considered offensive and it’s not used anymore. Noda uses it in other movies too, the geography ones, I think.
The editing’s rhythm mirrors the music, when it is fast the music also gets fast, or more “aggressive”. 
Focus is not on people but on the things (there are very few close-up shots of faces)

Carrying the Olympics 1964
If the previous was like a Shōchiku, this one felt like an action produced by Nikkatsu, although the focus on things is similar.
The music is louder, mainly classic, organ and baroque.
Starts from the empty pool and the national stadium, empty.
New monorail.
Trucks transporting materials for the Olympics.
Equipment arriving for the players from different countries.
Aeroplanes, luggage, horses.
Night scene with oblique shots and superimposition of the 5 rings (one of the most beautiful images of the film).
The editing is much faster than in the previous movie. 
Same scene is shot from different angles. Mirroring the subject of the movie, the images are continuously moving, rarely we get a static shot for more than 2 seconds.
The camera is always panning, zooming in or out, or the image is vibrating (telephoto lens), or the camera is moving because it is on a truck.
Shots from the perspective of the cones, of the pigeons, of the reels for TV.
While the subject is “simple”, formally it is a very sophisticated movie, very smartly constructed. 

Nitiray A La Carte 1963
From the very first shot to the last, the film is pure experimentation, visual and sonic. 
Music by Takahashi Yūji is hinting at a space age to come.
Abstract titles.
Stagy parade of models like in Suzuki’s Tokyo Drifter.
Felt like an installation sometimes.
The narration is comedic and almost surreal.
Slow motion, shots in the mirror, close-up of lips, 4 screens.
Shot of the meeting from above.
Kids parading.
Graphs/animation about the history of the company.
Pure art-house entertainment.
The music suggests a futuristic product (nylon) constantly evolving, the images are experimental as the company is experimenting with new chemicals. This sense of looking ahead and moving away from the past is also hinted at by alternating black and white scenes with the ones in popping colour.

A Town Not Yet Seen 1963
One view was not enough for me to fully appreciate it.
Street, water flowing, walls, stones, meat hanging.
A small stone bridge reflected on the water.
The film is in dialogue with Matsumoto Toshio’s The Song of Stones, and The Weavers of Nishijin (1962).
I found the music a bit too intrusive.

The Loneliness of Two Long Distance Runners 1966
Credits written on cardboard with ants.
Starts with a black screen and music (in English)
The scene is repeated 19 times.
Every time we notice something new, the police, the official cameraman, the audience, the smile on the face of the young Japanese.
The music matches ironically with what we see on screen: “c’mon” “you move me baby” “go go go go go” “oh yeah!”
The perception of what is on screen changes with repetition and music, the more we see it the more it gets funny.
Difference in repetition. 

Collapsed Swamp, or Painter Yamashita Kikuji 1976
Unfortunately, I haven’t taken so many notes on this, I’ll add some lines from the Osaka’s “phantom” retrospective organised in 2020.

Film opens with the artist’s face.
He was in the war, and so was his brother, all his art is about expressing what is almost impossible to express, the horror of war.
His paintings depict scenes where animals and spirits coexist with humans.
Noda and Yamashita were colleagues at Tōhō Studio, where they both experienced the Tōhō dispute.
It’s a very peculiar film about an artist, in that it’s in black & white, the words of the artist are prominent. 
Yamashita’s words were recorded in 1969, images were captured between 1970 and 1972. Work completed in 1976.
When the film moves to the Owls it becomes almost comedic, but a surreal comedy.
Scenes when Yamashita talks about being questioned by the police on images of him smashing birds head: Violence on the protesters in the late 60s?

Mizutani Isao’s Wanderings through Ten Spiritual Worlds  1984
Silent but originally was accompanied by the artist’s own narration, benshi-like.
Pouring paint on canvas at night.
Morning, Mount Fuji in the background. Frozen Yamanaka Lake.
When is pouring paint, his face is like a Noh mask. Performance for the camera?
Cut inside. Making the final touches. Close up of details. Insects.
Summertime. Finished paintings are placed in different parts of the city: stairs, middle of a street, etc.
Feels like performance art. A happening.

Carrying the Olympics 1964