Cinema Dérive - HARU 1996
Line up: Katsuhiko Aoki, Kazuko Misawa, Hikaru Suzuki
Open: 19:00 - 22:00 hrs
Tickets: € 3
HARU 1996
(ハル)
Directed by Yoshimitsu Morita
118 minutes
In Japanese with English subtitles
This is an under-the-radar Japanese flick that deeply struck the hearts and memories of many people who had the chance to see it. What it captures is the first moment when the internet first entered the lives of a new generation, offering the chance to communicate with people far away. It was a thrill, especially for those who were lonely. Of course you had a lot of weird stuff that you had to navigate, but there was also the possibility of a striking intimacy of chatting with a person you had never met. This was about text-based communication, before images were involved. For many this initial moment has become almost nostalgic, especially when compared to what it quickly became afterward with the flood of social media and smartphones. In fact, our two main characters both have dreary jobs that are totally offline, so for them it's a relief that they can connect to another world.
The film moves along calmly as different threads of narrative become intertwined. One day our main character Hayami stumbles across a cinephile forum on his computer. His username is 'Haru". As he is drifting through that space and exchanging thoughts and ideas about different movies, he connects with someone whose handle is 'Hoshi'. The film does follow them around in their real lives, but their online communication is typed in letters on the movie screen. In this way, a different kind of cinematic language is created, giving it a totally different kind of feeling than any other movie... and a special kind of charm is captured.
As the movie continues their communication takes centre stage, and things unfold from there. Different themes are explored, including traumatised lovers who turned to computers as a safer zone. Or how it is sometimes easier to confess something to a total stranger. It captures the moment when our society shifted to a new phase... a kind of magic-realism vibe.
Now let's be clear, I wasn't born in the 80s and never embraced computers and online activity when I was young. I was among the left-wing generation protesting against computer research at American universities in the 1970s. We knew computers were being developed in cahoots with the military and would be used for surveillance and mapping out the population. Back then the idea of privacy was precious and connected to freedom. Therefore, even well into this century I was one of the last people to have a computer. But I also understand most people were unaware of that larger context and experienced the Internet as a kind of freedom. And even if I feel they were wrong - or we could say innocent - their emotions were real, as well as their humanitarian impulse. Not knowing anything about Darpa, for them it was simply about connection - and that's what this film is about.
CINEMA DÉRIVE
Overtoom 301 2nd floor - Ventilator space
Doors open at 19:30, film starts at 20:00
