*** SPOILER WARNING ***
A young detective is assigned by a mysterious old man to stake out the apartment of an elderly woman, possibly his wife. He sets up his video camera and monitor in an empty room opposite her flat and watches. He is prohibited from following her when she goes out, and from investigating her identity. His job is simply to watch, to record her domestic routine. The work becomes immensely boring and he starts to go a little stir-crazy, withdrawing himself from the world outside and even broken up with his girlfriend. Suddenly another person appears in the apartment opposite: an attractive young woman. The newcomer haunts his thoughts, day and night. Worse, she sometimes seems to be aware of his furtive gaze. The old lady also notices his presence. Unable to bear it any longer, he determines to break into the old woman's apartment. This is a surprisingly interesting film about watching and being watched. It is absolutely intriguing and suggests that being watched is also being alive or if you prefer to be perceived is to exist. The film does not give any sort of concession to narrative clarity as all is rather suggested than explained. One concession comes right at the end of the film when the detective enters the apartment and sleeps with the young lady. The blue soft lighting gives the impression that he might in some sort of trance. As he wakes up he finds the old woman lying dead next to him and men's clothes, the old men's clothes, in a wardrobe. Now completely out of his mind the detective wanders the wet streets. He picks up a newspaper and reads an article that tells of the old woman's death who was in fact an actress who had lost her voice and subsequently her career and went into reclusion. She wore man's clothes and performed the old man's as part of her conspiracy to trick the detective into surveying her activities. At all times she was always aware of the detective's gaze and was playing out her last role for him. For her to be alive is to be acknowledged. The detective's growing boredom and fall into insanity are conveyed through relentlessly slow diagonal panning shots of the detective as he watches over the apartment. The camera as it was floating in the air metaphors his fragile state of mind which wanders between reality and unreality. The young woman he sees appearing in the apartment could just be an illusion. As he starts feeling curious about the old woman and as she is the only person he sees, an obsession for her develops. His fantasising with the old woman gives creation to the young one. So what we see even though a creation of our imagination becomes real.
An interesting debut from an assistant to Takeshi Kitano that it worth WATCHING.
A young detective is assigned by a mysterious old man to stake out the apartment of an elderly woman, possibly his wife. He sets up his video camera and monitor in an empty room opposite her flat and watches. He is prohibited from following her when she goes out, and from investigating her identity. His job is simply to watch, to record her domestic routine. The work becomes immensely boring and he starts to go a little stir-crazy, withdrawing himself from the world outside and even broken up with his girlfriend. Suddenly another person appears in the apartment opposite: an attractive young woman. The newcomer haunts his thoughts, day and night. Worse, she sometimes seems to be aware of his furtive gaze. The old lady also notices his presence. Unable to bear it any longer, he determines to break into the old woman's apartment. This is a surprisingly interesting film about watching and being watched. It is absolutely intriguing and suggests that being watched is also being alive or if you prefer to be perceived is to exist. The film does not give any sort of concession to narrative clarity as all is rather suggested than explained. One concession comes right at the end of the film when the detective enters the apartment and sleeps with the young lady. The blue soft lighting gives the impression that he might in some sort of trance. As he wakes up he finds the old woman lying dead next to him and men's clothes, the old men's clothes, in a wardrobe. Now completely out of his mind the detective wanders the wet streets. He picks up a newspaper and reads an article that tells of the old woman's death who was in fact an actress who had lost her voice and subsequently her career and went into reclusion. She wore man's clothes and performed the old man's as part of her conspiracy to trick the detective into surveying her activities. At all times she was always aware of the detective's gaze and was playing out her last role for him. For her to be alive is to be acknowledged. The detective's growing boredom and fall into insanity are conveyed through relentlessly slow diagonal panning shots of the detective as he watches over the apartment. The camera as it was floating in the air metaphors his fragile state of mind which wanders between reality and unreality. The young woman he sees appearing in the apartment could just be an illusion. As he starts feeling curious about the old woman and as she is the only person he sees, an obsession for her develops. His fantasising with the old woman gives creation to the young one. So what we see even though a creation of our imagination becomes real.
An interesting debut from an assistant to Takeshi Kitano that it worth WATCHING.