Ugoku (2007)

Rather than a plot, Ugoku develops an undiluted visual and sonic drama instead. Pounding rhythms and over a thousand elaborately altered and hand-colored clips rise to crescendo after crescendo in a Himalayan range of peak experiences.

Director:

Kasumi X

Writer:

Kasumi X

Storyline

Heads and torsos jerk, dip, nod, dance, huff and puff, superimposed over an explosive catalog of mandala-like, kaleidoscopic changes. The effect is hypnotic and mildly intoxicating, as if one's mirror neurons were being massaged, stroked along an emerging behavioral scale. Politically loaded snatches of dialogue soon begin to pop in and out of view, and paranoia plucks its baseline early-on. A woman says, "We're just as confused as you are," and another character speaks the Rod Serling-like line, "How can I prove my innocence if I don't know what I'm accused of?" Kasumi inserts her audience into a Twilight Zone of psycho-melodrama and autonomic response, rubbing Ugoku's ambiguous messages into the brain with the dubious aid of a motley company of C-list actors, casting-favorites for filler programming in and around the early 1960's. "Psychotic behavior!" observes a trim, familiar-looking character with a neat mustache. "I'm hot," whines a young woman seductively. A garbled phrase that...

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Plot Keywords:

movement

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Taglines:

Pounding rhythms and well over a thousand elaborately altered and combined, mostly hand-colored samples rise to crescendo after crescendo in a Himalayan range of peak experiences in this visual odyssey.

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Genres:

Animation | Short

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 September 2007 (Japan)

Filming Locations:

New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kasumifilms

Technical Specs

Runtime:

20 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color (NTSC Color)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

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