Memory can be such a fleeting thing,
often taking the form of fragments of images, sounds, tastes, and smells. Tokyo-based filmmaker Edmund Yeo’s latest short film Last
Fragments of Winter (冬の断片/Fuyu
no danpen, 2011) is an assemblage of just such snatches of memory. It is beautifully shot and poetically arranged
in a non-linear fashion.
As the film opens, it is not quite
clear whose story is being told and what the relationship is between the wintery
traditional village of Shinagawa-go in Japan and the urban and rural landscapes
of Malaysia. Gradually, scene by scene,
the characters and story begin to reveal themselves. Before long it becomes apparent that these fragments
of memory belong not just to one person but to three members of the same
family: a mother, a father, and their young son. In spite of their youth, all three have had
to deal with a world of troubles and sorrows.
The father (Berg Lee) attends the Buddhist funeral of a former lover and speaks to her ghost, the young
son (Foo Kang Chen) is sent on an
errand in place of his absent sister, and the mother (Tan Ley Teng) struggles with a mysterious illness that is making
her progressively weaker. The mother has
a passion for photography which dates back to her youth. As a young woman (played by Arisa Koike in the flashback sequences)
visiting Japan, she quietly walks around the village of Shinagawa-go as though
she is loathe to disturb its tranquility. The only sounds are the chatter of
the hiyodori (brown-eared bulbuls),
the cry of a distant jungle crow, the crunch of the snow beneath her feet and the
click of the shutter on her Mamiya camera.
This scene is paralleled with a similarly idyllic outing she takes later
in life with her young son to photograph a rice patty field in her native
Malaysia. The woman’s desire to record
the world around her evokes the theme of the ephemerality of life on earth.
In collaboration with cinematographers
Kong Pahurak and Tan Teckzee, Edmund Yeo has put
together a hauntingly beautiful film.
From the greens and blues of the family’s Malaysian apartment to the
white and black of rural Japan in winter, each scene has been carefully crafted
to create just the right tone. There is
an other-worldliness to the scenes of Arisa Koike in the snow that suggest that this may not just be the
youthful memories of the mother but an eternal place where weary souls may go
to rest.
The story was inspired by a short
story called “The Moon” by celebrated writer Mieko Kanai. Kanai seems an
ideal choice for adaptation as her stories are highly visual in nature. Yeo has managed to capture the dream-like quality
of a Kanai story while adding unique elements from his own personal experiences. The film won Yeo an award at the recent
Sapporo Short Film Fest (learn
more) and has also played at festivals in Dubai and Nara. Keep an eye out on Yeo’s official
website for information about future screenings.
©2012 cmmhotes
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This is the latest in a series of
reviews of the short films of the award-winning Malaysian filmmaker Edmund
Yeo (b. Singapore, 1984). A graduate of Murdoch University in
Australia, Yeo has been based in Tokyo since 2008 when he moved there to pursue
a Master’s degree at Waseda. His films have received wide acclaim at
international festivals including Cannes, Pusan, and Rotterdam. Click on the film titles below to learn about his other works.
Edmund Yeo Filmography (homepage)
Chicken Rice Mystery (2008)
Fleeting
Images (2008)
Love
Suicides (2009)
kingyo
(2009)
The White Flower (2010)
Afternoon River, Evening Sky (2010)
NOW (2010)
Inhalation (2010)
Exhalation (2010)
