Shot by painter Han Hsiang-ming, who, along with contemporaries, helped to uncover underground films from the sixties that often are only now screened publicly for the first time since their completion, this 5-minute short focuses on artist Xi De-jin, who runs around the roundabout of Renai Road, in Taipei, while an 8mm camera tags along, on a morning in 1966.
The End of the Track is screening at Electric Shadows Asian Film Festival
The film actually starts with an animated sequence of sorts, where the two letter that comprise the word ‘Run' come together. After that, the camera follows the artist, who wears a striped outfit, first sideways and then from the front, zooming in on his face. Han Hsiang-ming makes a point of showing that Xi De-jin is running opposite the direction indicated by the road sign, by zooming in on the sign. The runner keeps going, seemingly with no purpose, while his hair are waving in the wind and his eyes focus repeatedly on something the viewer never becomes privy to.
Eventually, a member of the military police and some curious bystanders are revealed, while soon afterwards, the runner is engulfed by a crowd of motorcycles that do not seem to bother him at all, however. The short ends up with an even more intense close up to his face.
“Run” features a number of different camera angles and film speeds, while the 8mm material and that results in intense graininess, stress Han's will to experiment with this short. The comment that becomes evident, however, is that this person is not running towards anywhere in particular, something that is stressed by the fact that he is running in circles.
Eventually, “Run” emerges more as a cinematic exercise, essentially addressing researchers and students for the most part.
