Rengoku eroica

The ability of some Japanese art masterpieces of that time to transition from subjective to societal, from intimate examination of oneself and personal relationships to universal and thus political, i.e., simply from existential to critical, is truly fascinating (Teshigahara - The Pitfall, Oshima - Death by Hanging). The first quarter: Antonioni in Japan, undoubtedly and flawlessly - a man lost to himself, his family, and characters wandering in a dehumanized world of geometric shapes of modern architecture in its perfectly smooth, rectangular structure, negating any natural place for humans. But Yoshida goes further - memory, the past, and the future transform the concrete stage of modern individual purification into the purification of the political individual, fighting for their ideals. A purgatory of convictions, dreams, and illusions in which heroes are trapped by the past, present, and future, and in which they can experience their own failure, weakness, unhappiness, and guilt - and lose their illusions, currently, almost seamlessly (flashbacks and flashforwards do it for them). A dead end of political choice, which is inevitably linked to the choice of life. /// Perfectly sharp and regular framing of shots often locks the characters in a central composition from which there is no escape, just like from an allegorical purgatory. All-consuming surfaces of black and white, steel and concrete, futile efforts. (17.11.2015)