NEKO-MIMI
(猫耳)
Dir. Jun Kurosawa, 1993.
Japan. 80 min.
In Japanese with English subtitles and English intertitles.

SATURDAY, MARCH 9 – 10 PM
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13 – 7:30 PM
TUESDAY, MARCH 19 – 10 PM
MONDAY, MARCH 25 – 10 PM
SATURDAY, MARCH 30 – 7:30 PM

“Why this farce, day after day?”

NEKO-MIMI is the only feature-length directorial effort of by the prolific experimental filmmaker Jun Kurosawa (b. 1964), who also acts as cinematographer, editor, co-writer, and composer. Kurosawa set out to create “the most beautiful cinema crystal” that would remain after eliminating the usual things that make a narrative film “work”: “human emotions, time, space, and montage.”

The film begins with excerpts from Samuel Beckett’s ENDGAME and continues in the same absurdist and apocalyptic vein: Think E. Elias Merhige’s BEGOTTEN by way of Alan Schneider and Beckett’s FILM, but with lush color photography and a characteristic Kurosawa soundscape that undulates between drones, choral passages, field recordings and harsh noise (reminiscent of his one-time collaborator Merzbow).

NEKO-MIMI, which translates to “cat ear,” is the dreamlike tale of three girls and a boy whose existences are spent playing games in a space resembling the ruins of a laboratory. Endless repetitions distort their senses of past, present, or future. They playfully toy with a body, dissecting its eyeballs and other parts. Surrounded by cameras, photographs, film, and projectors, the subjects embrace their surveillance, predicting our present panopticon.

Rarely seen outside of Japan since being presented at the 1993 International Film Festival Rotterdam, Spectacle is excited to present NEKO-MIMI in a recent digital restoration from a 16mm print.

Special thanks to Kraut Film.