A while back a friend gave me a copy of a collection of photos by punk rocker/movie director Sogo Ishii shot on the set of his film Labyrinth of Dreams ユメノ銀河. Despite having the book on my shelf for about 2 years I hand’t taken the effort to find the film and watch it until today.
Starring Tadanobu Asano and Rena Komine and shot entirely in black and white, this cryptic 1997 film is visually arresting, even when subtitled in German(?) and posted in nine parts on youtube. I’m interested in learning more about where it was filmed but haven’t been able to find out yet. It is certainly well worth keeping your eyes open for the next time you end up in a Book Off used DVD section.
Not only is this book fairly common at used bookshops, additionally it is handsomely printed and well edited. Color pictures have been laid in with monochrome shots, most which are not simply rote grabs from the final cut. The inclusion of the camera in the frame keeps the book from being limited to a rudimentary version of the film in book form and rather opens it up to a greater reflection of the production involved in its creation. All in all, it’s not a bad little book to draw influence from, especially if you are ever in the position to get an attractive young woman dressed up in an 1940s era bus attendant uniform. A guy can dream, can’t he?
agreed. this is the better ‘movieset’ book. quite ‘Good’ in fact
Comment by FongLong — December 15, 2011 @ 3:25 pm