Genre Hound
FIlm Opinion

It is rare that a film can surprise a viewer with the simple yet very effective observational approach of just shooting “fly on the wall” documentary style. In the case of the documentary Where Are You Taking Me?, an uplifting contemporary portrait of Uganda, which recently screened at the Los Angeles Film Festival, this is its raison d’être.

Director Kimi Takesue, as commissioned by the Rotterdam Film Festival, took her camera and one-person crew to the streets and dirt roads of the war-torn African country with the simple mission of documenting. Yet her eye for detail, character nuances and her sense of narrative cohesion have yielded a surprisingly refreshing take on a place of exotic colors, textures and rhythms that serve to contrast the barrage of media coverage of war and turmoil.

The film is striking in its surface simplicity and rawness. Shot on HD video in a 4X3 aspect ratio, it feels like a very immediate and first-person tour through the varied landscapes of the territory but with a storyteller’s eye.

From its opening shot – an extended, static bird’s eye view of a bustling urban intersection, Takesue resolves to keep things minimal and streamlined. As we are introduced to an open-air marketplace within the city, one cocky young vendor, among others, actually winks at the camera. From there and throughout the film we become Takesue’s surrogate traveler jumping from scene to scene, location to location, simply yet keenly observing. We see a large wedding take place with lavish press coverage, pulsing music and a nervous bride and groom. We see a lively breakdancing competition, kids near an open dirt lot taking turns flipping on a trampoline, construction workers, a boxing school, and in the film’s most tense sequence early-on, a succession of young female weightlifters, lifting and then dropping weights of increasing heft until it seems one of them might break an arm. Each scene contains the hint or beginning to a story, some actually playing like “short cuts” from an alternate universe, Ugandan Robert Altman film.

In one of the film’s most comedic scenes a young man is shown in front of a microphone speaking half in his native tongue and half in English. At first he seems to be a performer or comedian. Soon it is revealed he is offering a lively accompaniment to an old Bruce Lee kung fu flick that is playing in a small, shanty-like theater for a disparate group of adolescents who stare at the screen somewhat puzzled. The man on the mic continues undeterred, offering all mater of zips, zings, punches and crashes to the soundtrack.

In other scenes hints of pain and uncertainty are underlined when some men respond to being filmed by asking the question, “Where are you taking us in this film?” and “Why are you taking my story to the U.S.?” Here we see first-hand the suspicion of these ordinary people, most of them just struggling to make ends meet and wondering about how their story will be spun.

At 71 minutes the film benefits from its compact form, finding time to linger just long enough, (but not too long) on various vignettes. Having been cut down from the 55 hours of footage Takesue shot, the film feels lean and lucid.

Still there are moments when this approach will test your patience. In many ways, the film is a mood piece. The long static shots and lack of discernable narrative may prove too abstract and open-ended for some viewers. In a Q&A following the film, the director did express some concern over people walking out. Ultimately that didn’t seem to bother her as she sternly held to her position of preserving the film’s challenging spirit.

In her words Takesue describes her process: “This was a personal and intimate form of filmmaking that challenged me to push myself with very few resources… No attempt is made to explain or definitively inform the viewer about Uganda. Instead, the film reconstructs my sensory impressions of people and places by concentrating on the images, details, colors and sounds that left an impact. This film was refreshing because it lacked agenda and it was all about discovery, and, ultimately, I was able to present an uncompromised vision.”

For more on the director’s statement, press coverage and screening dates visit: www.whereareyoutakingme.com

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To see more from Michael Okum, visit: http://evilmonito.com/author/mokum/