'Se'-back

Directed by Kei Shichiri

Gōzō Yoshimasu is one of Japan’s leading poets, still prolific into his ninth decade. This film documents his 2019 performance of Se (‘back’), a live poetry reading set against accompaniment from avant-garde rock group Kukan Gendai. Blindfolded and wearing a facemask, Yoshimasu plays audio recordings, growls and rasps his way through a rendition of a poem, and channels every ounce of his energy into drawing, using a pane of glass as his canvas. Kukan Gendai sculpt shapes of sound in response: an entire universe thrown into sharp relief by an uncompromising contest between voice and music.