Thanks javaopera, and the ripper Tofuman.
Sogo Ishii - Labyrinth of Dreams (1997)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120547/
http://www.bizarreingredients.co.uk/jap ... rinth.html
http://www.mostra.org/21/portug/filmes/labirin.htm
Código: Seleccionar todo
AVI File Details
========================================
Name.........: Yume_no_Galaxy_XVID_tofuman.avi
Filesize.....: 695 MB (or 712,576 KB or 729,677,824 bytes)
Runtime......: 01:29:58 (129,432 fr)
Video Codec..: XviD
Frame Rate...: 23.976 fps
Video Bitrate: 942 kb/s
Frame Quality: 0.145 bits/pixel
Audio Codec..: 0x0055(MP3) ID'd as MPEG-1 Layer 3
Audio Bitrate: 131 kb/s (65/ch, stereo) VBR LAME3.90.
Interleave...: 1 vid frame (42 ms), p=504 Split: No
Frame Size...: 704x384 (1.83:1) [~11:6] 'Labyrinth of Dreams' sees Ishii's lean towards meaningful silence arrive at what is probably the last station on the line. As though one day the great Director walked out into a wilderness searching for some elusive universal truth before returning several days later with nothing but a wry smile to show for it. There is an odd, loaded acknowledgement in 'Labyrinth of Dreams', something fragile and tentative. A persuasive, silent inner mystery that holds together as long as no attempt is made to clear the fog. Pursue this latter option and you'll not only destroy the carefully crafted sense of the unknown, you'll destroy the entire film without question. In 'Labyrinth' Ishii asks that you turn everything down, lean towards him and listen.
It is possible to see 'Labyrinth of Dreams' as one long dream fantasy in itself, Tomiko's lucid dream given life by the sheer numbing tedium of her daily grind and total isolation from the rest of the world. Compounding all of this drudgery is her complete inability to seek or realise any form of escape from her self-imposed exile. Tomiku shows neither the confidence, willpower or initiative to see anything other than her life sentence - indeed, she is content to reinforce her own insignificance. This idea is forcefully put in 'Labyrinth of Dreams', the notion that life for Tomiko has become some intangible prison, life as a crushing solitary confinement. It is reflected perfectly in Tomiko's working life on the bus, enduring an endless cycle of the same bus route with no variation. Tomiko's personal life is just as clockwork as her working life, her torturously empty journey perpetually leading back to the same starting point time and time again.
Some of the sequences in this film are outstanding. As befitting a Director for whom the aesthetic is crucial, Ishii is a master craftsman when it comes to imparting meaning by design and composition alone. So explicit is this handling that only the barest of dialogue cuts through the film from start to finish. One sequence in particular stands out as being extremely audacious, something that only a Director of Ishii's bravery would have even attempted. The shot occurs when Tomiko visits Niitako and they are seen sitting at either side of a small table with their gaze turned to the floor. There they sit uncomfortably, for many, many seconds. It could even be a still frame on screen, the whole film just freezes with both characters unsure of what to say to each other - they can't even bring themselves to look at each other. It is an astonishing shot, perfectly capturing the repressed power and tragedy of the main characters. The shot ends when Tomiko tellingly leans forward and gingerly puts her arm around Niitako, with this gesture even I breathed a sigh of relief.
Throughout 'Labyrinth?' Ishii constantly plays with Niitako's threatening alllure, none more so than when he shows him with Tomiko on one of their lunch breaks. Leaving the bus for a short time they venture into the forest where they sit in silence. Niitako hands a cigarette to Tomiko and after a couple of seconds contemplation Tomiko takes it. The actual gesture, shown in close up, confirms that Tomiko is already lost. The sense of splendid isolation in her little rural dreamworld willingly blasted apart, a destiny steered dangerously off-course. The meaning could even be widened out from there to indicate some cultural clash of the old and the new, given that 'Labyrinth...' is set some several decades ago.
Hauntingly effective stuff, a dream in every sense of the word. 'Labyrinth...' is a film that demands to be heard and experienced. Slow moving in the extreme and with very little in the way of action, it nonetheless provides a strangely unsettling reward for anyone willing to wrap themselves entirely within its esoteric charm. And after watching this masterpiece of quiet, you'll probably understand why Ishii then went on to make something like 'Electric Dragon 80,000V' a couple of years later!
-http://www.bizarreingredients.co.uk
Yume_no_Galaxy_XVID_tofuman.avi 
Not much dialogues,
but no subs anyway.
