Tokyo Oympiad
1965
Directed by Kon Ichikawa
From the opening images of bulldozers breaking ground to build a stadium, it is clear that Tokyo Olympiad is unlike any sports documentary currently available. Inured as we are to sports documentaries that instill a sense of gravitas that the actual event may not have had, Ichikawa's film strikes such a striking alternative to the filming of athletic events that it is not until one reaches the halfway point that his vision becomes somewhat clear: this is not a movie about the winners, nor is it a movie about Japan. In all honesty, it is very nearly not a film about the Olympic Games. Ichikawa's focus is, from start to finish, the human body; more specifically, the human body in motion, in action. Using the Olympic Games of 1964 as a laboratory, Ichikawa shot some unknown yet surely astronomical amount of film, then went through editing together a rough synopsis of the events as an experiment in what he found interesting. What it is so unexpected, and yet refreshing, was how unlike his presentation of sport is to that of ESPN or any other major broadcaster. As is clear when he negates to show results, Ichikawa has no interest in winners or losers--except for the occasional medal ceremony or when the unseen narrator feverishly reports them, many events go unremarked upon. The last thirty minutes of the film are devoted to long tracking shots of marathon runners, with an surprising focus on the first water-stop (the portion of marathons where the runners are able to grab cups and sponges at each 5km mark.) By the bizarrely sentimental close of the film, where the narrater describes how excited and happy he is, one has seen every permutation of physical accomplishment that the human body has performed. An incredibly compelling film.
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