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Kohei KOBAYASHI: right is blue, blue is left, left is yellow, yellow is right
Reviews
Written by Takeshi HIRATA   
Published: November 06 2009

     Picking up trash, cutting grass, riding a bicycle and rolling vinyl tape in some place like a new residential area - all of these behaviors or acts are common in our daily lives. Nonetheless, these kinds of acts which Kobayashi shows straightforwardly in his film works entitled “2-8-1” (2009) and “2-8-2” (2009) make us feel as if we are witnesses to puzzling situations in his films.

”2-8-2" (2009); 15min31sec., courtesy of YAMAMOTO GENDAI, copy right (c) Kohei Kobayashi

     Another incomprehensible aspect regarding these exhibits is that the camera work seems to be unnatural. For example, sometimes the screen moves in small directions due to hand movement and cameras suddenly zoom in and out. Nevertheless, what we see on the screen after encountering such questionable camera work are only trivial things, such as grass. The camera runs as if it does not even care a bit about the people it captures in its frames.

     It can also be said that such camera work exposes the technical immaturity in taking films which would never be tolerated in common film/movie making. Kobayashi’s films make us feel as if someone who was a novice at using a video camera shot the scenes in front of them freely. Such an inexperienced shooting method even impairs viewers’ concentration.

     However, at the end of the fifteen-minute films, we notice that we ourselves have concentrated on them more intensely than ever before. In other words, only after having finished viewing all the films, do we recognize that such an immature shooting technique adversely plays a role as a frame to make us pay attention to the images themselves appearing on the screen. Yes, we notice this while still feeling a little stress remaining in our bodies after having watched the entirety of these films.

     We cannot predict what will happen in Kobayashi’s film creations. Although something seems to have already happened in his films, it is impossible for us to grasp what it was. What was the subject of the films? What did Kobayashi aim at in recording these films? What were the people in the films doing? Such unnatural camera work evokes a tense feeling in us akin to that which we often get from unpredictable frames in documentary movies. Nonetheless, indeed, it is a recognized fact that images in documentary films are put into one “movie” through an “editing” process, but Kobayashi’s works presented in this exhibition are puzzling also in terms of the process. Why were these creations “edited” in such a manner? Why were they made in the form of fifteen-minute films? His works raise such questions as above with us, which contributes to making us feel uncomfortable all the time until the end of the films. His creations seem to negate camera work and editing (montage) which have been cultivated in the history of movies and force us to realize that the way of viewing films which we have taken for granted is no longer valid.

     In Kobayashi’s films, the acts of people taken in daylight set our expectations for feeling an unpredictable suspense. Nevertheless, we cannot find any suspense in these films. In addition, the “suspenseful” technique used in these creations contributes to intensifying an unsettled image of the films. Whether we like it or not, we, the viewers, have no choice but to continue to gaze at the frames while continuously recognizing that we are in a state of “looking” at the images. Nonetheless, the act of “looking” at the films may in fact be the most “suspenseful” conduct.
(Translated by Nozomi Nakayama)

Last Updated on November 02 2015
 

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