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Cita de: "helge79@DivX Clásico"

, here are 3 Matsumoto's early documentaries from the 1st volume of the DVD box. Huge thanks to Fitz for uploading the DVD to the asiandvdclub.



As it is evident from this caption:







the voiceover in Mothers is actually reciting poems by Shuji Terayama (sic!). Also, here is a very interesting interview with Matsumoto concentrating on his early years in cinema: http://www.yidff.jp/docbox/9/box9-2-e.html



Enjoy!

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THE WEAVERS OF NISHIJIN (1961)



Nishijin is an old quarter of Kyoto, home to craftsmen who specialise in the production of silk for kimonos. Matsumoto constructs a film-poem in the midst of the quarter’s maze of lanes and alleyways. The film won the Silver Lion for the best documentary at the Venice Festival.





THE SONG OF STONE (1963)

 

While extracting and polishing their blocks of stone, stonecutters used to say “the stone is coming to life". This paradox provided Matsumoto with the best metaphor for what making a film is all about. In his opinion, filmmakers work images in the same way that stonecutters work stones. Premiered in France, the film was enthusiastically received by the critics, particularly George Sadoul.





MOTHERS (1967)



"...So what I made was a lyrical, easy-to-understand film in the style of a cine poem... But in terms of the period, I did treat issues like the Vietnam War and discrimination against blacks, taking the point of view of mothers and children around the world and making a film where the contradictions between East and West, North and South, rose to the fore. Luckily--I don't know if you can say that--the result was that it took the grand prize at the 1967 Venice International Documentary Film Festival... and in fact it did give me the opportunity to make other films like the Funeral Parade of Roses."

Cita de: "helge79@DivX Clásico"

Finally, I got them, and I am now gladly sharing everything via eMule. Huge thanks  goes to robokun@AsianDVDClub for uploading the DVD images.



There are 8 shorts in this compilation (I'll rip volume 3 in a couple of weeks, I do not have the volume 1 yet). Here is a brief synopsis just in case:



The first two shorts are clearly related to the Funeral Parade of Roses. For the Damaged Right Eye is a montage piece on a split screen (with a third screen occasionally appearing in overlay). The subjects touched upon are (predictably) political unrest, sexuality and pop-culture. Ecstasis makes an actual appearance inside the Funeral Parade of Roses: it is nothing else than the minimalist short that the group of underground youths watches before they proclaim that "all definitions of cinema have been erased".



Metastasis and Mona Lisa build upon the various color manipulations and substitutions. In Metastasis, a static shot of a toilet bowl serves as the raw material. I will leave it for you to guess what serves as the raw material in Mona Lisa.



Phantom and Atman should probably be thought of as preparatory exercises for Shura, as they both extensively feature imagery related to the oriental religions. Make sure to hold on to your chairs as you watch the opening sequence of Atman - or else I cannot be held responsible for the consequences.



Finally, White hole presents a wide variety of explosions, both recorded and simulated, and Ki or Breathing is a spare concoction assembled from low motion shots of nature and set to a score by the much-acclaimed Tohru Takemitsu.



There are no subs, nor is there a need for subs. The technical specs vary between the files, but all of them maintain the quality of the original DVD. "For reasons which must be all too obvious", ripping Matsumoto's movies is no piece of cake. There is just damn too much visual inventiveness in the man!!! Please enjoy!..

Cita de: "helge79@DivX Clásico"

, here is the 3rd volume of the Matsumoto's collection. Sorry about the filesizes: these movies have terrible compressibility. Oh well, for the very same reason they are well worth examining frame by frame -- and, treated as such, would often feel very much like a walk through an art exhibition. Here is a synopsis for the 9 included shorts:



Expansion is a re-working of Ecstasis, enhanced with flickering color, image re-duplication and a psychedelic rock soundtrack.



Andy Warhol (Re-production) is a suitably non-sensical presentation of documentary footage about Andy Warhol's visit to Japan.



Everything visible is empty contemplates the titular Buddhist maxim through a succession of Japanese calligraphy samples interspersed with Indian religious art. Ultimately, the character for Nothing-ness comes to dominate, and all that is left is a blank screen with a flicker of spectral colors.



Enigma is something of a more glamorous version of White Hole, with a wide variety of elaborate textures (often composed of iconographics and religious symbols) converging towards the center of the screen.



The subsequent four shorts seem to concentrate on the formal qualities of visual perception. In Connection, a static shot of the sky with moving clouds is subdivided into regular geometrical regions, which are then individually (and rhythmically) manipulated. In Relation, the focus of the viewer's attention is guided (and mocked) by pointers moving through the screen. In Shift, panning shots of an industrial building are subdivided into horizontal bars, and fanciful earth-quake-like effects are induced by differential zooming, panning and delays. In Sway, the viewer is confronted with hyper-fast zoom-ins and zoom-outs.



Finally, Engram is a three-part piece revolving around a few good old ideas such as photos inside of photos, movies inside of movies, photos inside of movies, movies inside of photos, and (even) a film director inside a TV set.

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