The Trip - Kihachiro Kawamoto (Part 1 of 2)

The Trip - Kihachiro Kawamoto (1973)
*Also known as "Travel"

A young girl sets off on a surreal metaphysical voyage through which she will learn all the pain and joy of life.

From an interview with Kawamoto:

A lot of people say "I don't get it", but I know very much what it means. In the Spring of 1968 the Soviet Union invaded Prague and killed a lot of Czech people. The film is about the Life of Suffering.

Buddha says that life is suffering and there are four basic sufferings: birth, disease, aging and dying. These are the four major sufferings in a person's life. There are a further four sufferings that Buddha spoke about. These are having to meet people you find annoying, being parted from a loved one, not getting the things you desire, and the sufferings of the mind and body. In order to get rid of those sufferings one must achieve a state of "satori", or enlightenment. This is the theme of Travel.

All of these elements of the eight sufferings are contained within that movie. The main character of the girl wonders if the Indian man she meets might be her lover from a former life. There's a scene where she drops the statue she is holding.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Kihachiro
• Kawamoto
• trip
• travel
• Japanese
• animation
• surrealism

[JoonaRuusuvuori]

Culture specific things are funny.. I've watched lot of eastern european, french and canadian animations and thought I know much about how to express things through animating, then I see Kawamoto's stuff and find dozen new ways to make it.. Like a fresh breeze of air into an old fortress.. small things that make up whole different picture. And look at this one, what a far cry from european cut-outs of this style, that tend to be funny (with some exceptions of course).

[naitomeamogu]

the music is different from the one i watched on dvd?

[valleus]

Captivating

[81942555]

Excelente cortometraje del maestro Kawamoto.