Nobuhiko Obayashi - Experimental Film Collection (1960-1968)

je nai rien trouvé en français sur ce cinéaste japonais inconnu en occident et pourtant quelquun dimportant au japon
à découvrir absolument !!
ces films nont pas de sous-titres,
mais le language de Nobuhiko Obayashi étant principalement visuel, ce nest asp un problème

It's a little known fact that long before Nobuhiko Obayashi directed House, he was one of the pioneers of the emerging experimental film scene in Japan in the late 50's and early 60's, along with filmmakers like Yoichi Takabayashi, Donald Richie (who of course is better known as an author and film historian than a filmmaker), and Masao Adachi (who wrote the screenplays for Koji Wakamatsu's most politically radical films, joined the Japanese Red Army, and lived in the Middle East until he was extradited to Japan to serve some jail time). Obayashi was a student in his early 20's when the earliest of these films were made. They were personal 8mm films but the Art Theater Guild provided a venue for them to be seen by the public, which led to the opportunity to make longer and more elaborate 16mm productions. At the time, Obayashi was making a living by directing television commercials and using them as opportunities for experimentation--his quick editing style and penchant for playful visual flair were very influential in the CM production industry. Production on his personal experimental films took place at the same time as CM production, often using the same actors and even incorporating the commercials themselves into the experimental films. Some of the resulting films blur the line between arthouse drama, silent comedy, low-budget horror, documentary, pop-art experimentation, and personal home video.

I can't think of another filmmaker who bridges the gap between experimental film and mainstream appeal as well as Obayashi. Nowadays, past the era of music videos, it's not uncommon for a director with a background in experimental films/commercials/music videos to make the leap into pseudo-mainstream feature films. But Obayashi was doing it long before guys like Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, Gen Sekiguchi, and Wisit Sasanatieng made it popular. When Obayashi made House, his first studio feature in 1977, he used it as sort of a showcase for all the experimental techniques he had developed over the years. The result was unprecedented--nobody had made a big studio feature anything like it before (Seijun Suzuki probably came closest), but the important point is that despite all its weirdness, House was a big commercial success, as were many of Obayashi's later films.

Dandanko
1960, 11'', 8mm, n&b
A woman and boy play games on an ominous staircase.

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Katami (Remembrance)
1963, 17', 8mm, coul
A woman and boy visit an ominous graveyard.

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Onomichi
1963, 20'', 8mm, coul
A non-narrative tribute to the seaside town of Onomichi, where Obayashi grew up and where most of these films were made.

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Mokuyoubi (Thursday)
1961, 19'', 8mm, n&b
A young couple go on a picnic in the forest, where the woman reveals that she is pregnant.

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Nakasendo
1963, 17'', 8mm, coul
An experimental film edited from footage of the Japanese countryside.
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Tabeta Hito (The Person who is Eaten)
1963, 24'', 16mm, coul.
A waitress at a busy restauraunt dreams that she is trapped on an operating table, and the food inside her body is being served to the guests.
Ce film remporta en 1963 le Grand Prix du Jury au Festival International du Film Experimental de Belgique.

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Complexe
1964, 14'', 16mm, coul.
An experimental arthouse short that manages to be thoroughly entertaining while simultaneously poking fun at the pretentiousness of the stereotypical experimental arthouse short.

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