A teacher spends his vacation collecting insects at a remote sea-side province. Reflecting on unpleasant aspects of modern city life, he encounters some locals from a primitive village who put him up for the night with a lonely widow living in a sand pit. The next morning...
Well, leave it at that. This is such a great, weird story that I don't want to give too much away. One of those gems of world-cinema, it deserves to be better known.
I remember the Criterion DVD as having one of the finest black-and-white images of my experience, and have always hoped for a Blu-ray edition, now delivered.
Although the texture of sand is obviously a favorite subject of the camera, it less often has erotic connotations because of its inconveniently gritty feel. A skilled photographer can show us:
- ...sand formed into smooth curves by the wind.
- ...particles coating and decorating the human body, making it even more touchable. (The thumbnails below are too small to show this).
- ...streams of sand flowing like water...
- ...and vast waves of it crashing down like avalanches of snow.
Notes:
- The modern score supplements the Twilight Zone-feel.
- Notice how the collector gets "collected"?
- Japanese film, always working in a bit of bondage. Brief artistic nudity.
- People have asked why he seems reluctant to escape at the end. Consider what he has found in the woman -- supposed to be homely, but becoming the loved one -- and his momentous discovery in the sand. Would anything he could do in the outer world be as important?