TEXTISM 2003

Directed by Isamu Hirabayashi

Under a cherry tree, there's always a corpse..." After a literary opening featuring this quote from Motojiro Kajii and the image of a giant, bifurcated tree, Textism suddenly changes key and a work full of wry humor emerges. Three stories, each somewhat aloof in tone, are told using subtitles and computer-generated synthetic sounds. With its effective presentation of images, this artist's "memento mori" compels us not so much to "think of death" as to "think of text (mozi)"