In the latest years, Toshiaki Toyoda has also embarked on an exploration of experimental cinema, mostly revolving around the connection of image and music, with films like “The Planetist” and “The Day of Destruction” being testament to the fact. “Shiver” continues in this path, with a music-video like approach that follows the rules of Ettō, is a new type of music video streaming program, rooted in local cultures, that enables artists to travel around Japan, while doing research and passing on their insights, while aiming to spread awareness of the music, culture, and local lifestyles that have formed them. In this particular case, Toyoda has shot the collaboration between the emerging contemporary musician Koshiro Hino and the Sado Island-based Taiko Performing Arts Ensemble “Kodo“, in a movie that was entirely recorded at the rehearsal hall in Kodo village and Sado Island.
Essentially a series of vignettes that present an impressive combination of image and sound, “Shiver” seems to focus on concepts as tradition, through a distinct jidai-geki approach, nature and particularly water, as exhibited in the waves of the sea and the flow of the waterfalls, and the human body as connected to the playing of different percussion instruments. More intensely though, Toshiaki Toyoda focuses on the ways music is formed from a vibration that becomes a sound, that becomes a rhythm, that eventually becomes a piece of music.
The combination of Koshiro Hino’ s music and the Taiko sounds of Kodo is rather intriguing, with “Shiver” being a movie that definitely deserves to be experienced through a great sound system and quite loud. At the same time, the images that Toyoda juxtaposes with the music create an imposing atmosphere, where elements of chilliness, horror, and even eroticism are engulfed into a sense of mystery that works quite well for the narrative.
Kenji Maki’s excellent cinematography captures the aforementioned intricate combination in utter artistry, while a number of images are definitely bound to stay in memory. The initial one with the taiko on a cliff above the sea, the tengu-like dressed maestro, the sole scene where there is actually singing, by a man-woman duet, the images of the waves, the waterfall and the forest, the rotating statue, are all excellently portrayed. Furthermore, the way Kodo members work together in harmony, either with their percussion instruments, various other objects and their bare hands, is also excellently captured, resulting in an audiovisual extravaganza.
“Shiver” is more a music video than an actual movie, but the result remains quite imposing and entertaining, in a movie that could easily be released as a record. The possibility of experiencing something like that live is definitely exciting.
