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Voyage explores human life and myth

2015年10月16日(金) Report

Later on Friday night October 16th attention was again focused on Yoshimoto Gion Kagetsu Theater where the Hong Kong masterpiece Voyage was screening. This poetic meditation on the meaning of life was thought provoking and daring. Made in an episodic style, the work was shot in territories as diverse as Inner Mongolia, Germany, Holland, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Australia. In one way it follows the travels of Ryo, a young psychiatrist who is both distraught over his patients that have committed suicide and also heartbroken over lost love. But the film also portrays characters and situations not necessarily related to Ryo, showing their deep psychological struggles and depicting myth and the nether worlds.

From the get-go we understand the film is not to be taken as realistic, it’s exploring the psyche of humans and cultural myths, as well as what kind of events lead people into deep depression. The prologue of the flick starts in China during the Cultural Revolution. Educated people were sent to the countryside and this sketch follows a Chinese student forced to survive with Mongolians on the harsh steppes.

From there the chapters of the piece start, describing lost love in Germany and people struggling in Holland. Though each installment is related only by theme, or in some cases their relationship to the central character Ryo, there is a consistency in style and gripping exposition of the lives of the people. The director, who goes by the single moniker Scud, uses a number of creative techniques, like freeze frame, stunning images and surreal events, to grab the viewer’s attention and focus it on the fleeting nature of life. Essentially the film is a meditation on the fragility of life.

Before the screening Scud spoke to the audience. He expressed his love for the city of Kyoto and noted that he’d like to live here in a house that had a view of the famous temple Kiyomizu-dera. He related, “What first made me so attached to Kyoto was Kinkakuji temple, because I read (Yukio) Mishima’s book about it.” Turning to film, Scud expressed his strong desire to have his art affect people, “When I watched the early days from masters like Nagisa Ohima (I think) we, and Japan, used to be very open and free. I had no problem with the graphic content because it’s about humanity. In the last couple of decades film has become …. hypocritical, it avoids any confrontation with the audience. But I wouldn’t do that.” He summed up the present work and his artistic goals saying, “The film is about depression and suicide but I hope when you leave the theater you actually appreciate life more.”