Kaori Oda completes her Underground Trilogy with “Underground” (Cenote and Aragane were the previous films) implementing, once more, an experimental approach that results in a series of impressive images.
Underground is screening at Tokyo International Film Festival
Kaori Oda essentially presents a series of vignettes connected through the concept of the “shadow” which begins to see fragmented memories that transcend time and place. There are however, three focal points, approaches if you prefer, that ‘drive’ the narrative here. The first one revolves around a young woman, played by Nao Yoshigai, who appears throughout the movie moving in various spaces, touching various things with her hands, in an element (the touching) that is quite central here.
The second one is a lecture of sorts about a series of events taking place in caves, with an elderly man being the narrator. The first concerns a gruesome tragedy that occurred 79 years ago, the day after U.S. troops stormed ashore at the main island of Okinawa. It occurred at the bottom of a small valley not far from the coast, in the village of Yomitan. Of about 140 local residents who hid in Chibichirigama cave, 83 lost their lives due to desperate acts such as setting fire inside the cave. The second, in another cave in the area, Shimuku Gama, had the exact opposite effect, as about 1,000 villagers took shelter there, but, after two Okinawans who had spent time in Hawaii, alerted the locals in the cave that “Americans don’t kill people,” thus encouraging them to surrender and save themselves. The connection between the two events seems to interest the director significantly, particularly through the prism of life and death. At the same time, the story of Toshie Asato, a survivor, is also highlighted, in connection to another cave.
The third one is the presentation of various locations, sometimes with no people at all, in a series of lengthy scenes that frequently have to do with water, but other times are just images from the city, this time filled with people.
Kaori Oda seems to focus on various connections, between time and memory, fate, collective trauma, and their bonds with time and space, in a way though, that is to experience with the senses rather than logic. Thankfully, the combination of sound and image here is of the highest level, regarding a series of truly imposing images, both underground and on the surface of the earth. Yoshiko Takano’s cinematography emerges as one of the best traits of the movie, with the scenes of the water in particular definitely staying in mind.
The editing is one of the main sources of experimentation here, with the connection of the various vignettes being essentially illogical. At the same time though, the slow pace and the long takes definitely fit the overall aesthetics of the movie.
In “Underground”, Kaori Oda concludes her Underground Trilogy with a sensory exploration of time, memory, and trauma. Through fragmented vignettes, she intertwines the physical and emotional landscapes of history. With stunning cinematography, evocative sound, and experimental editing, the film invites viewers to experience rather than analyze, creating a haunting meditation on life, death, and the shadows that connect them.
