Summary
Toshiaki Toyoda delivers another dazzling collision of sound and vision, teaming up with legendary taiko drumming troupe Kodō for this beautiful hybrid film.
After becoming slightly smitten by Toshiaki Toyoda’s The Day of Destruction, I imagine I was not alone in looking forward to whatever the filmmaker did next. Confirming his current obsession with long tracking shots through forest paths that lead to temples, this film probably contains more taiko drumming than any other film.
On the surface, the film is about taiko ensemble Kodō and composer Hino Koshiro spending one month on the small island of Sado creating music together. Toyoda captures the soundscape in his inimitable style, meaning that instead of this being your typical studio sessions it’s a delicate portrait of nature and human music in balance.
If you’re familiar with Toyoda’s recent work, especially The Day of Destruction and the short film Wolf’s Calling, which both used the 20-person Edo punk band Seppuku Pistols on the score, you’ll know how seamlessly he blends music and visuals. Here he puts the musical collective front and centre, although the juxtaposition of the photography (from regular collaborator Maki Kenji) with the slowly building drums makes the label of ‘audio-visual experience’ a more apt description. (Similarly, the Japanese title of SHIVER (戦慄せしめよ) contains the characters for ‘dread’ and ‘war’ and is wonderfully appropriate for this piece).
If you’re watching this purely from a narrative perspective, there’s always a chance you’re going to feel that it’s a tad repetitive. Yet it’s amazing how the rhythmic flow of this ensemble begins to seamlessly blend with the natural surroundings of the island, enveloping you for a perfect balance of an ensemble at the height of their game and the landscapes that inspire them. Early in the film, an interior shot of the drumming might look like chaos on the surface, but it’s actually tightly controlled art. By contrast, the film culminates in the untamed crashing of the waves juxtaposed with the refined and practiced techniques of Kodō.
The Kodō collective are themselves a massive part of the island, spending their time there when not being ambassadors for taiko around the world. So, you can either look at this as the world’s most beautifully shot music video for a specialist band or a long installation piece. Either way, it’s a gorgeous hybrid that hypnotically washes over you and leaves you at peace.
2021 | Japan | DIRECTOR: Toshiaki Toyoda | CAST: Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Kodō | DISTRIBUTOR: Rapid Eye Movies, Nippon Connection (GER) | RUNNING TIME: 89 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 1-6 June 2021 (Nippon Connection)
