REVIEWS

The film "KISMET" starts from a recollection. The author is captured by "Calls from the Past" and the photos in the beginning are probably materialization of such recollections. But he doesn't only contemplate on images coming back to his memory. 
Recollections don't mean simply reappearance of experiences of the past. That which is recalled isn't an ordinary experience of daily life, but such a unique and important event for the person who recalls it, as it brought him utterly new meanings. People can't predict such an event within the perspective of daily life. It appears as a fortune, fate, or karma-namely, as "KISMET". 

In short, what the author is trying to do here is to find out the universal motif "KISMET" in such unique events, which could have happened only to himself, and make a visual work of art from that (recollections are, as dreams, greatly visual). To say further, he is trying to show that "KISMET" lies in the center of creation of art works. In art the unique, accidental things coincide with the universal, necessary ones-so musicians in the film say with various expressions. 

The author seems to have taken a method of "transformation of image into music" in previous 3 short films. When composing images, he has emphasized the more abstract and rhythmical composition than the dramatic one based on dramaturgy. In the last film "KISMET" we can say about another "transformation of image into music". It can be called "transformation of image into vibration".
It is difficult to call scenes of musical performances in this film "documental". Namely, they are not simply copies from the reality. They are made into autonomous aesthetic images by the author.

Movements of performers' fingers, vibrations of their bodies, expressions on their faces and silent conversation between them-the ensemble of these visual movements weaves "visual music" independently from the real music. In this sense movement of camera plays the decisive role. Floating viewpoint of camera delicately develops a counterpoint with the performer's music, forming "visual music".

This "visual music" gives such an impression, as if the images are rhythmically divided into endless waves. It is the "transformation of image into vibration" already mentioned. It is obvious that this "music=vibration" corresponds with whispers of leaves and ripples on the water which repeatedly appear like leitmotivs．

And in the third part the motif of the ornament of gothic architecture appears as a variation and completes a circle-Music-Nature-Architecture. The identification of Nature and Culture through music seems to be an important motif of the film, though it is never spoken by word.

(Takesi SAITO, researcher of Russian literature, Tokyo)

 Tokyo crowds at an intersection, Moscow strollers at a street corner, a single figure crossing a field. Shusei Nishi's ambitious new documentary "Kismet" weaves such seemingly pedestrian images into a complex meditation on unexpected paths to new artistic enlightenment. 

The director's past and present encounters with new music take him on a personal journey of exploration across thousands of miles, guided by chance, choice, and coincidence. He records the dreamlike melodies of chamber group "Caprice" in Moscow, visits "improv" players in Tokyo's vigorous experimental scene, returns to Russia for a ritualistic performance of the Russian Gothic band "Moon Far Away," and concludes with the free vocalization of "Jack or Jive" in Tokyo. 

Divided by distance and united in spirit, these serious young amateurs and professionals are simultaneously exploring new sounds, seeking new meaning beyond traditional modes of expression or written notes on a score. It's part of an endless artistic revolution in progress, yet most of these participants aren't even aware of each other. The filmmaker provides the link.

Director Nishi's extended shots and lengthy interviews give "Kismet" an unhurried tempo and contemplative mood for extended variations on themes of freedom and spirituality. An atmospheric sound track by participants in the film enhances a sense of timeless serenity.

While there is no dedication, the film quotes the visionary works of the Russian religious thinker Danill Andreev, whose mystical writings remained unknown until the early 1990s, over 30 years after his death. The musicians and maker of "Kismet" are in harmony with such a quest for artistic truth and freedom.

( Ann Colville, journalist, Tokyo)