While it serves as a foundation for tales of adventures and action, the science-fiction genre has also been a platform to deal with philosophical and existential issues, starting from it very first entries. In fact, most of the lasting masterpieces of the genre tackle these issues, thus making them so worthwhile exploring for generations of cinephiles and authors alike. After two short features, director Shogo Kiriu decided to tell a story set in the world of tomorrow, using his skills at VFX as well as his experience in photography. “Journey” is not only his first feature debut, but also his graduation project, which deals with issues of human existence and whether we are truly alone within the vast universe surrounding our planet.
“But It Did Happen” is screening at Skip City International D-Cinema Festival
At an unspecified time in the future, mankind has discovered and further explored the possibilities of space travel, leading to many expeditions into the unknown with the task of finding life outside earth. While his father served as a member on one of those journeys, Keiji (Ryota Miyazaki) has remained home, dreaming of becoming an astronaut one day. However, with various expeditions coming back empty-handed or getting lost in space, like the one of his father, his dream slowly dissipated, and he settled for a job working at Area 51, as part of the cleaning crew.
As his wife Shizuka (Kozue Ito) falls ill, with very little hope of a cure or recovery, his yearning for space becomes more important again. When he hears about a new space program, he applies immediately, hoping to find some traces of what his father tried to discover, but also an answer to his most pressing question, whether a non-physical existence is possible, which may grant him some hope of re-connecting with Shizuka once she is gone.
Divided into three parts, serving as a very traditional narrative structure for the feature, the journey of the main character tackles quite a few fields of philosophy closely connected to the possibility of exploring new worlds. Combining the idea of space travel of exploration to the question of an afterlife or a new for of existence gives “Journey” a very contemplative atmosphere, which is further highlighted through the slow pace of the movie in general as well as the framing of each shot. What sets Kiriu’s approach to these issues apart from other genre entries is his lack of providing answers, as the development of the protagonist actually raises more questions, adding to his frustration and lack of (spiritual) orientation.
At the same time, and despite the obvious limited budget the director had to work with, there are some impressive images in “Journey”. Director Kiriu and his cinematographer seem to aim for the metaphorical rather than the obvious or factual, strongly reminiscent of the works of Andrei Tarkovsky, whose “Solaris” must have been a strong inspiration for the story and its visuals. In the end, the combination of both elements, narrative and images, stress the loneliness of the characters, or rather their fear of being alone, in death as well as in the vastness of space, which more than once feels like a ray of hope or a glimpse into a dark abyss in “Journey”.
In conclusion, “Journey” is an impressive feature debut by its director, exploring philosophical and existential issues. The contemplative nature of the movie along with its visuals make Shogo Kiriu’s work a strong debut, and a promising start for a great career.
