In 2022, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) and the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia (SSFF & ASIA), an Academy Awards® qualifying short film festival, launched the “Sustainable Recovery Project.” This project aims to create a short film that shows the city of Tokyo, its residents, and the tourists who visit the city, as part of the city's efforts to become a sustainable city, and to show Tokyo's diverse attractions to people in Japan and abroad. After screening the film (real venue and online) at SSFFA 2024, the film will be also used for tourism promotion of Tokyo and other occasions. Through this project, TMG and SSFFA will give opportunities to award-winning filmmakers of the past SSFFA editions by letting them write and direct the short film, in order to promote and appeal the attraction of Tokyo both in Japan and abroad.
Light of Intricate Patterns is screening at Short Shorts Film Festival and Asia
The film begins in a warehouse/workshop where a man is creating an intricate glass, juxtaposed by picturesque images of Tokyo and idyllic music. The next scene takes place within an apartment where a young boy, Kazuma, is drawing various shapes in his drawing book, under the gaze of his mother, Yuri. It turns out that she is a journalist, and the next day, she has an interview with a craftsman from Edo Kiriko, the man featuring in the previous scene. It so happines that Edo Kiriko is designated as a Traditional Craft of Tokyo and Japan, and that the glasses are all hand made, as the next scene takes place in the aforementioned workshop, where an assistant, who is also his son, is explaining the process to Yuri. It turns out though, that the man is not particularly eager to be interrupted from his work by the journalist.
The next scene has Yuri in her office, where a Westerner who seems to be her boss is talking to her in archaic Japanese, something that eventually leads her and a colleague of hers bursting to laughter. The next one takes place in a playground, where Yuri and Kazuma are, with the boy making a girl cry because he ignored her. It seems that the boy has some social issues, something that has been tormenting his parents, as the next scene in the apartment highlights, along with a difference in overall mentality between husband and wife. A solution appears out of nowhere when Yuri takes Kazuma to Edo Kiriko.
Shoji Yasui mixes fiction with documentary aesthetics, in order to present a short that has an obvious promotional essence, but is also induced with context and substance, through some very interesting comments. The first one is evidently the inherent Japanese value of perfecting one's art through the effort of multiple generations, with Edo Kiriko, their products, and the relationship between father and son highlighting the remark in the most eloquent fashion.
The second comment concern's Kazuma's mentality and the parallel with that of the elderly craftsman. This comment seems to suggest that people who seem distant and unsocial, can sometimes have this demeanor due to being of artistic nature, which, to a point, means that they prefer to live in their ‘own world' for the most part. Realizing this mentality on the part of the parents is probably the key to good relationships between them and their children, as both the families in the movie eloquently highlight.
The visual approach here is rather polished and bright, in a style that mirrors both mainstream Japanese cinema and the style of infomercials (commercials also). DP Shuma Jan captures the setting of Tokyo and the intricacy of Edo Kiriko in impressive fashion, through a number of images that are bound to stay on the mind of any viewer. The combination with music can ben a bit over-romanticized, but as whole, the mix definitely works. Shuma Jan's editing, with the succession of the two main arcs until their joining, is also on a high level, while the relatively fast pace suits the overall aesthetics. The ‘arc' about the foreigner seems a bit off, but I guess as an effort to lighten the mood, it also works.
Fumino Kimura as Yuri highlights her inner struggle quite eloquently, even with few words, while her chemistry with Tsuki Iwamoto's Kazuma is on a very high level. The boy also steals the show when he has to talk about the various patterns found in the glasses of Edo Kiriko. Tsurutaro Kataoka as the elderly craftsman is also impressive.
“Light of Intricate Patterns” is a well-shot short which achieves both its purposes, of promoting and presenting its comments, in an accomplished way.
