Who’s there? (だぁれぇ/ Dārē, 2016) by Kōjirō Inoue (井上幸次郎)
was the opening film of Hiromitsu Murakami’s selection of Tokyo
University of the Arts’ (Geidai) recent
works at this year’s Nippon
Connection. It was one of the best
films on the programme and clocks in as the shortest with a runtime of only
1’25”. In fact, my only criticism of the film was
that it was a tad too short because I was enjoying it so much.
The
shortness of the film and its comedic nature are due to the fact that it is
Inoue’s first year work for Geidai’s graduate programme in animation. As assistant professor Murakami explained
during the Q+A at the Nippon Connection screening, students have only 6 months
to complete their first year film and a whole year to complete their second
year film. This results in many students
experimenting with playful or comedic styles in the first year and creating
more serious works for their graduate film.
Inoue’s
short short is an adaptation of a classic rakugo
story, “The Parrot” (オウム/Oumu). The story varies according to the rakugo performer’s interpretation. For this animation, it is performed by Kintarō
(金太郎, b. 1956), a master rakugo
performer from Yamagata Prefecture.
Rakugo (落語) is a
comic storytelling tradition that dates back at least to the 18th
century. A lone storyteller, or rakugoka (落語家)
sits on a stage (kōza / 高座) that is empty but for a zabuton (座布団 / floor cushion) wear the
performer sits. Apart from word and
gesture, the performer may use a paper fan (sensu
/ 扇子) or a small cloth (tenugui
/ 手拭) as props. The
comic tale features two or more characters which the rakugoka differentiates through his pitch, tone, and by turning his
the head.
Rakugo literally translates “fallen
words”, which is exactly how Inoue depicts it in his animation. The rakugo storyteller is made up of an
assortment of kana and kanji that appear in the story and as he
tells the story, the words fall from his mouth into piles on his left and right
sides. By the end of Kintarō’s tale, the
piles transform into the two central protagonists of his story: the elderly
woman who owns the parrot and the paper delivery boy who interacts with the
parrot. They bow their acknowledgement
to the audience.
The film
captures the spirit of Norman McLaren in the way that it uses one animation
technique to express a complete story and a complex art form (rakugo) in a very short amount of
time. The well told story and film’s
visual appeal are complemented by traditional Japanese music (shamisen and percussion)
arranged by Yae Yamaguchi and sound
design by Tomoya Matsuda. The title "
Check out Kōjirō
Inoue’s official website to learn more
about this up and coming young artist. For a short interview and behind the scenes images of the making of this film, click here. I
am excited to see what he does for his graduation project.
2016 Cathy
Munroe Hotes
