Kidofuji
Release Date: 2023
Duration: 11 mins.
Director: Atsuro Shimoyashiro
Writer: Atsuro Shimoyashiro (Screenplay),
Music: Atsuro Shimoyashiro
Starring: GON, Kumiko Tsushimi, Shohei Matsuzaki, Daisuke Arai, Risa Arai, Mamiko,
Atsuro Shimoyashiro is a multi-hyphenate talent who has worked on a variety of titles as composer, actor, writer and director. Since helming his last feature film, The Modern Lovers (interview), he has been prolific scoring the music for other people’s films. However, ahead of the release of his next film, Lonesome Vacation, he made the short film Kidofuji.
Kidofuji is the name of a real-life standing bar in Koenji, Tokyo. It’s the sort of place one can wander into off the street, rock up to the counter, and order a beer and some food. As such, it’s also a prime location for random or fateful encounters to take place and drama to occur.
The film chronicles one fateful encounter as experienced by a musician named Shintaro (GON) who starts the night innocently enough as he is at the bar sipping shochu and snacking on nori topped with grilled cheese. A stranger named Hiromasa (Shohei Matsuzaki) walks in and the two hit it off over a shared love of a rock band but when they are joined by a mutual acquaintance, a young woman named Natsuki (Kumiko Tsushimi), sparks fly and the night goes awry as tempers flare up…
At 11 minutes long, Kidofuji has a unique delivery: one camera and one take.
It sounds audacious but it works. The camera is static and planted at the far end of the bar to give a view of the establishment and its geography. We get a real sense of the place, from the décor to the atmosphere. It is lively as the bar masters and patrons (extras made up of non-professionals drawn from the real world) create a dynamic background as they float in and out of shot while they make their orders and return to their tables off screen and chat. I could imagine stepping into that place and pondering over what I would like to try from the many examples of food that is mentioned.
Meanwhile the three principal players (professional actors) are in the foreground and filmed in a medium shot as they act out their drama in one take. It feels like we are peeking in on their drama as the actors sometimes have their backs to us but they move around a lot and whether through expressive faces and body language they manage the astonishing feat of running through different stages of a relationship, from casual connection to outrage without skipping a beat, all while never breaking from the reality of the film. Their skilled acting further provides energy that carried me along and I enjoyed the presence of everyone.
If this script uses the four-part narrative structure of “Ki-sho-ten-ketsu,” introduction, development, twist, and conclusion, it does so well, for the most part. The quickly-established relationship felt like something you might experience at random in a bar and the initial antics of bonding over music elicited light laughter from me. The twist of certain characters’ private lives and resultant confrontation made me gasp in shock. It’s a rollercoaster of emotion and I am still undecided about the conclusion as the denouement feels kind of bittersweet but not quite enough to lighten the previous drama. On the other hand, the mixture of hipness and bitterness is definitely a hallmark of Atsuro Shimoyashiro’s works, as seen in his feature film The Modern Lovers.
Whatever reservations I might have, I was taken with the story because the actors are all uniformly good and the one particular bar master who intrudes on the action is a comic delight. I also appreciated the comic irony of how not much of the delicious-sounding food is consumed as the drama gets in the way. The fact that it references the Covid-19 state of emergency is also a welcome nod to reality that roots us in the place and reminds us of how the restaurant industry fared and how we are all drawn to communal spaces like standing bars.
Beyond the one-take, one-camera style, there are many more technical aspects to the film worth pointing out from the simple use of turning off the lights to indicate a change in time to non-diegetic sound with air guitars that allows for further comedy and an injection of some rock music to liven things up further. Indeed, the soundscape is a particular delight as the hubbub and music expands the universe.
Working as both a tribute to a real-life standing bar where the film is set and an experiment in directing and acting, Kidofuji is an 11-minute showcase of the skills of the actors, director and crew as it brings to audiences the atmosphere of a Tokyo eatery and a story that might take place there. Come for the food of the place, stay for the atmosphere and drama and get a taste of the variety of food on offer in this well-shot and acted short.
Read an interview with Atsuro Shimoyashiro to get his take on the story, the confrontation, and food recommendations at Kidofuji!
Kidofuji has been invited to be part of MOOSIC LAB 2023 and it next plays at Cinema SKHole in Nagoya from tonight and at Theater Seven in Osaka on May 17 (details here).