As the world slowly recovers from a catastrophic pandemic, the universal zest for travel is being ignited once again. And experimental documentarian, Kimi Takesue, with her therapeutically meditative works, highlights what we have missed out over these lost years. The recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship takes us on an unbiased journey into the sights and sounds of Uganda in this contemplative piece that first premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
Where are you taking me is screening at Metrograph at Home
The opening aerial shot lingers on a busy thoroughfare thronged by chaotic motorbikes, business suits and Sunday Dresses. A sea of humanity going about in quotidian way as the world turns. A gentle introduction to a documentary that has no hard-and-fast start or end, but rather flows from one encounter to the next. Quiet, without much in the way of dialogue but booming in its portrayal of the Ugandan spirit.
Like Cinematic Yin Yoga, it fixates on extended shots of everyday life, from a rambunctious encounter at the village barbershop to an intimate church wedding ceremony and some uniquely Ugandan sights like a host ad-libbing ‘kung-pows' over a screening of Bruce Lee's ‘Enter the Dragon', much to the chagrin of an unamused audience. A showcase of emotions in raw unfiltered form.
But it soon becomes clear that Takesue's lenses invited more than just the usual cheeky wink, curious glance, and feigned ignorance when she interviews the residents of ‘Cape Hope', a refuge for survivors of the civil war. The intentions of her footage become fodder for some friction, with the residents questioning her on the purpose of “bringing the footage back to New York”. A piercing statement that forces us to examine the line between art and exploitation.
‘Where Are You Taking Me?' as it turns out, is a flittingly appropriate title for this beautifully made travelogue that begets more questions the harder you chink at its core. Enjoy this for heartwarming scenes like that of the exuberant giddiness of schoolchildren with joking monikers of ‘Jennifer Lopez' and ‘Jennifer Hudson' but be prepared to explore deeper connotations of the human condition when you examine whether society feels for the next sob story or is it all just arts for arts sake.
