The Koumiko Mystery

1964, Tokyo. The Olympic games are being held and people have come from everywhere. Chris Marker is there to film them. In the crowd he meets a woman. Koumiko was born in Manchuria, educated in French and lives in Tokyo. Marker asks her questions: about Japan, about cats, about time, about death, about what she likes and does not. She answers, and to some questions she does not. The film is neither a portrait nor a record of the games; it stands between the two. Chris Marker directs. The documentary dates from 1965. It is the first film Marker made about Japan and he returned to the country in later years. The method is question and answer; the voices were recorded afterwards and do not match the image exactly. What the film is interested in is whether a country can be understood through one person, and Marker says plainly that it cannot. The footage of the games stays in the background and the narrative is largely shot in the street. Marker's known manner is already established here: narration, the form of the essay, and observations about objects. The documentary is short and loosely structured; the narrative reaches no conclusion. Who it is for: anyone curious about essay documentary and Marker's work. Who it is not for: nothing happens, the structure is loose, and the film was not made to inform.