This is
Ogawa Productions' first major film from their Yamagata period. They
had already started photography on Magino Village-A Tale but
they were drawn to this village deep in the high country above Magino
when a particularly cold bout of weather threatened crops. Inevitably,
their attention strayed from the impact of weather and geography on
the harvest to the "life history" of Furuyashiki Village.
On the one hand, Ogawa returns to his roots by playing with the conventions
of the science film. At the same time, he discovers a local, peripheral
space in which to think about the nation and the state of village
Japan. From this "distant perspective" in the very heart
of the Japanese mountains, Ogawa discovers a village still dealing
with the trauma of global warfare and struggling for survival as their
children flee for the cities.
[Abé Mark Nornes]
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