Zuremingu

Overview

This silent, 8mm film combines two camera procedures: time lapse and the zoom lens. It aims not for technical smoothness but a beguiling abruptness. Starting at the same time each evening, the camera records, in jerky leaps, the moment when the sky darkens and an urban streetlight turns on, illuminating the screen. Alternating zooms-in and zooms-out, Ranmaru Usui – part of a Japanese 1970s movement that explored 'cinema of the soul' – offers transcendence within the everyday. – Adrian Martin