2019 ‘普通は走り出す’ Directed by Hirobumi Watanabe
Born out of every artist’s creative crisis, the search for the next topic, Hirobumi WATANABE presents his latest film, dealing with the question of what his film should be about. The director stages himself as he idles away his days, delivering endless monologs during car rides, sleeping on the floor at his grandma’s house, or philosophizing over video games and the FIFA World Cup.
Futsuu wa hashiridasu, Life Finds a Way, Не сдаваться, Жизнь находит путь
"A wasted day
A meaningless week
A messed-up year
A pointless decade
I would never ever ruin it again
I wanna start over from age 12."
Worth it for the experimental sequence on the utility of film and fabulous use of music by Triple Fire to complement the black-and-white shots, particularly during the overture and opening credits 👌🏻
And the doctor was the MVP of this whole movie 🥰
My second Hirobumi Watanabe film, the first being And the Mud Ship Sails Away...
I have a feeling he'd quickly work his way up my list of favorite directors if his films weren't so hard to come by. Slacker comedies shot in black and white with a bit of meta-commentary or surrealism thrown in for good measure. This guy exists somewhere between Hong Sang-soo and Clerks-era Kevin Smith.
In this particular film, Watanabe plays himself, struggling to write his next project. All he knows is that he'd like to use Triple Fire's music, which of course, is featured here. But mostly, it's just Watanabe wasting his time, falling asleep at the movies, getting in constant trouble at the library, and going on lengthy diatribes. As with And the Mud Ship Sails Away..., cinematographer Bang Woo-Hyun's perfectly composed high contrast black and white images are absolutely stunning.
Among the three Watanabe films that I've seen, this was probably my least favourite. It's a self-reflexive meditation on the director's own creative struggles, a premise that most "auteurs" (if you believe in such a thing) will tackle late in their career, and which Watanabe explores while in his prime. Indeed, the FEFF22 programme describes the film as "the Watanabe brothers' 8 ½," a somewhat appropriate comparison. However, while Fellini's masterpiece is a creative response to the external pressure that suffocated the director, Life Finds A Way actually feels like a film born out of a writer's block, which means that the result is quite haphazardly put together.
However, I don't hold this against the director, since this is certainly…
Once more, Hirobumi Watanabe has completely surpassed my expectations and has been awarded my first 5 drop (star) review of the year. A truly impeccable piece of cinema that hilariously deconstructs one of my favorite working filmmakers out there while hauntingly analyzing what it means to be a contributor to cinema.
I can't express just how much I love this film, and I have finally conjured up, at the very least, just enough words to finally get my thoughts out there on my current favorite film of 2019, Life Finds a Way.
Please read below and do feel free to share and help support the work of such an important and relevant indie filmmaker.
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The last of the FEFF22 Watanabe films I had left to watch. Perhaps this is something I should’ve considered before watching them in whatever order I fancied, but watching this film made me think I should’ve watched his works in release order.
I say that because Watanabe’s works are as much a reflection of himself and his rural hometown down to the themes of each of his films. The core idea of each of his films is to capture humanity and life through good and bad in its purest form, a style that often makes the camera more observant and less active as he seeks to follow the characters (often Watanabe himself) as they live their lives while capturing their…
i honestly think that he's really good in what he does. it's just not for me and my terrible attention span.
Films shouldn't have too many boundaries.
Films should be freer and more creative.
Films should seek more freedom.
Watanabe’s wry, self-lacerating humor turns the pitiful, martyr-like diatribes and wallowing helplessness into a deliciously self-aware portrait of an artist’s emotional struggle without lending it undue import, finding fault for his misery firmly in his own actions. The film exudes candid sincerity and is not afraid to make Watanabe himself a sorry example of myopic narcissism while, nonetheless, respecting the reality of the pain and frustration he feels faced with a lack of confidence in his abilities or even worth to society.
Different from the other movies by Watanabe,but still very recognizible, I enjoyed some of its parts more than others: the interviews, the scenes in the library and those where the B&W images explode on screen.
Ruhig und wunderschön gefilmtert Film über das Produzieren eines Film. Regissuer Hirobumi Watanabe, spielt sich selbst und zeigt wie er auf die Idee für diesen Film kam. Dabei gibt es Humor und Drama. Er meckert über die Filmwelt und schaut Filme. Macht Interviews mit seinen Mitmenschen über den Film, was ein Highlight ist. Life finds a Way zeigt den harten Weg eines Regisseur der versucht einen Film zu machen.
Ein wunderbarer Film über das Filmemachen. Stilistisch genau das, was man erwarten konnte.
