Featured Artist
of the month
Takeshi Maya
Featuring artists whom are or who's work relates to the Asian style.
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Featured Artist of The Month
Previously Featured Artists
Jake ShimabukuroKei Ishiyama
Peter Grabas
Short Film 『影KAGE』by Takeshi Maya
真矢武氏との最初の出会いは、20年以上遡る。彼の所属する事務所の一階でだった。
真っすぐな眼差しで「睨んできた」まるで噛み付くみたいなヒリヒリとしたバリヤーを張り巡らせたような。
真っすぐな視線は20年後の、彼が創った短篇映画の中の主人公「陸」と重なった。
現役の役者で演出も撮影も主演もやったという、しかもモノクロで、セリフもわずかな映画。
五感で体感する映像、わずかな時間飲み込むように揺さ振られ、視覚の緊張と音の緊張でモノクロの色気は、
動き回る自然の中でのそれぞれの葛藤の重力を感じる。
目の当たりにする重力、己(おのれ)の鍛えた躯の反応、感情は、目線、気合、手足に宿り爆発する。
振り払うのは、おのれの中の敵だろか？かつての仲間や信じるものなんだろうか？
観るものを容赦無く乱打する太鼓は気がつくと鼓動と重なり、切なく上目使いになる。
鍛えた彼等の心身が、映像の重力を映している。重ねた年月は、25分間の中に生きている、活かされている。彼が求めた葛藤や戦いは、
人間に向けた優しい気持ち、信じる気持ち、慈しむ気持ち、溢れている。
誰が見てなくても自分が見ている。自分が変われば世界が変わる。
「陸」の最後の選択は、「陸」の鍛えてきた生き方への答え、それは真矢武氏自身の答えである。
文Youko.Takenouchi
Back in 2008 Youko, who kindly wrote the Japanese text about Takeshi Maya above, told me about a short monochrome Shinobi film made by Takeshi Maya. The film used no wires or special effects. I liked the principle of sticking to real human physical abilities without any “artificial” tools. I had been fed up with super-human action movies.
That fall I met Takeshi at a coffee shop in Tokyo, and he showed me his film, “影KAGE”, on his laptop. [Due to my short stay in Japan, I could not go to one of its film screenings in Japan. It was before he made this film available to the world on the Internet in 2009.] My eyes filled with tears as a flute played at the conclusion of the film. When the final duel was over, the screen mellowed into a piece of flute music - such a contrast to the hyper, heart bursting pace of the first 22 minutes of the film. The decision made by Riku, the Shinobi, to put an end to the strife was what Takeshi Maya wanted us to witness. The message was cast, and we are here to receive it.
When I thought of finding an artist for the art page of my website, I didn’t hesitate. I contacted Takeshi in October. He granted me permission to link his KAGE site to mine. His only request was for me to let people know that he had poured 100 percent of his body and soul into the making of “影KAGE”.
Effective use of taiko (Japanese drum), painted dragon on the haori coat, flashbacks, whiteouts, and echoes was enhanced by real human action of highly trained athletes. I could see in Takeshi’s bodily movement the genuine strength he had acquired since childhood in the Japan Action Club, under Sonny Chiba. Takeshi was one of the Samurai Ensemble in Last Samurai.
Chizuko
To watch Kage: Official Site Kage-Japan.com
Click English or Japanese, then click on movie.
Takeshi Shimaya at MySpace.com
IMDb KAGE 2007
