Premiering at the 74th Cannes Film Festival and winning a Jury Distinction in the Short Film section at Annecy, “Anxious Body” is the first project collaboratively produced by Japanese animation distributor New Deer and France-based Miyu Productions. The 5-minute short was created to be exhibited at the Arts Towada 10th Anniversary Exhibition: Inter+Play Season 3 at the Towada Art Center in Aomori on January 22nd, 2022.
Anxious Body is screening at Camera Japan
Two fingers that seem to be of a woman are touching a transparent adhesive tape. They create a kind of triangle with it, which bounces of a tennis racket in the next sequence. The fingers continue playing with the tape, and eventually, a snake-like creature finds its tongue attached to it. A naked woman lying is moving, in a way, though, that looks like morphing. The clicking of a mechanical pencil is made to look as an injection. The fingers are then on the racket, and next, tape is placed on the body of the trapped snake, in a way that looks like some kind of torture. A woman is changing shape while inside a net the becomes narrower and narrower. A finger is cut and the tongue and the tape come together, to “heal” it.
Lingering between the video installation and the movie, Yoriko Mizushiri's hand-drawn animation uses geometrical shapes and lines in order to present an animation that thrives on its flow, while exhibiting a sense of perverse sensualism that occasionally points towards exploitation. The overall morphing, both of the woman and the various shapes is probably the most artful aspect here, essentially dictating the aforementioned flow and resulting in a short that is very difficult for someone to take their eyes from what is happening, even though this “what” never becomes clear. The focus on the concept of touch is evident throughout, cementing the rather interesting, abstract approach here.
The animation is quite intricate but the drawing follows very simple lines, with the same simplicity applying to the colors, in a way that creates a very appealing antithesis that essentially “forces” the viewer to focus on the flow and the motion, in an approach that definitely benefits the film.
Not exactly about something, perhaps beyond the concept of touch, “Anxious Body” is artful enough to deserve a watch from all fans of animation, while the abstract exploitation and sensualism add a very appealing touch, that is very rarely depicted on experimental, art films.
