Pondering the movie that is ‘life’.
Jim Morrison of The Doors once lyricised; ‘Have you had a good life, enough to base a movie on?’ Not sure he ever made it to Japan. Given his general reputation and that little episode in New Haven, they probably wouldn’t have let him in anyway. After all, as I explain to any foreigner who ever considers going on the hunt for some Mary Jane in Japan, this is the country that refused access to one of The Beatles based on a previous conviction for marijuana. ‘Nuff said.
However, I digress…..
It could be down to the way I look at the world but I think, even for the most un-artistic soul, standing in Tokyo [especially certain spots like the scramble crossing in Shibuya I was near when I took the shot you see below] can be an intensely cinematic experience. Pop a pair of headphones on your ears, with the right playlist fed into them, and you have the soundtrack to go with the pictures.
This is something I often do as I cruise around town with my camera. It helps me distill the moments I like from the frequently over-powering visual feast that surrounds me in this most photogenic of cities. A split-second may end up imortalised through my camera. The rest of life often ends up on the cutting-room floor of my brain. It can’t be helped. There’s simply too much ‘footage’ to consider using it all in the final cut.
The Life Cinematic: a rainy evening in Shibuya
And then there’re those rainy days when, as hard as I try, I find it almost impossible to shake scenes from Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner from my head. Tokyo in the rain is for me the magnum-opus of its cinematic output: the neon mixes with the wet, the pavements come alive with reflections and the crowds extend vertically like a wall of translucent plastic that diffuses light and creates mystery as it blurs the people behind.
Now, as summer ends and I find myself more inclined to leave the air-conditioned sanctuary of home more often, I look forward to autumn’s rains, the fall of the leaves and the next act of Tokyo: The Movie.
And yes, Mr. Morrison, I think I have……I think we probably all have.
