Ôkoku (aruiwa sono ie ni tsuite)

Really good film!!!

Kind of like what Godard did with Passion this film explores cinema as a product of labor but unlike Passion, Domains focuses more on the acting side of it. The film consists in the most part of rehearsals for the filming of the film we are seeing. This scheme is really interesting for a few reasons, first of all, the way that the plot is presented to the audience is not linear which is something that on its own tends to alter our perception on the subject at hand. This is amplified by the constant repetition of the same scenes with slight variations in the text and in the frame. For example the scene where the husband argues with the wife's friend. The scene is shown a couple of times but sometimes the camera focuses on the wife, sometimes it focuses on the husband and sometimes in his wife's friend. Depending on which one the film makes us feel a different way. The repetition also serves as a Brechtian strategy to desensitize the audience and externalize the action by highlighting the fact that the film is not natural but constructed and so are the characters and ideological implications of the work.

I really liked it, the film was gorgeous in its simplicity ( the few outdoor scenes were absolutely beautiful in my opinion) i liked how raw and emotionless( and yet full of emotion) it is; it might not be an easy watch but it is a worthwhile one.