BIG IN JAPAN

Big in Japan: A Link to the Future is a series of three short films I made over one week during a trip to the Kansai area of Japan.

After making an impromptu biking video last summer, I felt compelled to make a film about one of my friends who featured in it, Kevin, along with his big hair. Kevin: The Movie didn’t get made, but since he came with me to Japan, this seemed like the next best thing.

Part One starts as a hyperactive music video with an 8-bit video game soundtrack by the Japanese producer DJ Krush, before moving into 16-bit territory as i try to recreate one of my favorite games from childhood, The Legend of Zelda 3: A Link to the Past (hence where the title comes from). The last two tracks are from that game and the footage was shot in and around the free-roaming deer-filled city of Nara.

Part Two turns down the tempo pays homage to the Buddhist and Shinto religions that are ingrained into the culture of the country, before switching to the walls of neon of Osaka at night, which give the feeling of being in a sci-fi film.

Part Three takes us to a private cosplay event at the Kyoto Manga Museum, and Tobata Shinchi, Osaka’s notorious red light district. The cosplay event was by far the most creepy of the two. Stanley Kubrick had to be evoked for the opening capsule hotel scene in Umeda, Osaka’s business district and the latter stages of that scene may or may not have been shot after a couple shots of sake before heading out for New Years Eve. The video finishes up at Arishiyama bamboo grove and monkey park.