Tekkonkinkreet

Tekkonkinkreet is a mesmerising film that seamlessly combines sharp contrasts – it is simultaneously an epic adventure and inner quest to find the essence of one’s own soul, a melancholy treatise on the disappearance of quiet secluded places and an aggressive indictment of the rottenness of the big city, a playful children’s fantasy and a heart-rending drama. The narrative seems to play out on the boundary between black and white in the symbol for yin and yang, which are joined together while harmoniously complementing each other. Similarly, the visual aspect embraces austere drawing of the characters and lyrically flowing pastel sketches, both of which are brought to life in a fluidly dynamic form against a detailed, almost hyper-realistic background. The district of Takaramachi (Treasure Town) has the form of a pop-art surreal world in which elements of various cultures, religions and pop culture traditions occur side by side and are intertwined into a new, playful whole, like the syllables in the title of the film itself (the title is a bastardisation of the Japanese term for reinforced concrete). (12/07/2013)