incinerrante

22Apr10

I really like the way "Secrets behind the wall" was edited. It conveys a strong sense of disorientation, understood both physically and existentially. Also there are interesting stylistic solutions regarding the issue of spatiality: those tiny apartments which constitute the housing complex present a problem to staging, mise-en-scène and framing. The stylistic solutions adopted by Koji Wakamatsu seem to stem from the intention of communicating disorientation within such prison-like apartments, where echoes of wars (the Second World War in the past and the Vietnam War in the present) come to haunt the daily activities and exchanges. On the one hand, we can notice subtle (and maybe non-intentional, however meaningful) distortions of the figures on the screen in specific moments of the film. On the other hand, by means of carefully rhythmed cuts and making use of superimpositions of images to disseminate meanings in other specific moments, Wakamatsu accomplishes an interesting interweaving of staging and editing.