ROAD TO (2025)

A short film about moving around.

When I first watched this short, I thought the connection with Lemmings was a nice touch. Almost like it was a shared universe. It would make sense actually. But only later, I found out it was inspired by a 3-part instagram story posted by the director Sumi Yosuke. Still, in my mind, it's almost like a prologue. I'm curious what people's interpretations of this one will be. Some might find it weird, but there's definitely meaning to be discerned from this one.

This isn't said in the short, but basically the main character travels from western capital, as they call it, to the eastern capital. Western capital was a former name for Kyoto, and eastern capital is now Tokyo.

Cast:

• Okazaki Shinma
• Matono Masayuki as Ken

Screenplay, direction, filming and editing: Sumi Yosuke

Music: ioni

Graphic design: Sudo Fumitaka (minamo design)

Camera assistant: Itagaki Masaki

For this one, you'll need to pause to read all the days because it's only a few frames, so I'm posting them here:

DAY 1: I hadn't been able to stop myself from crying since last night, but as dawn breaked, I felt my head clearing up. Still, the headache remained. Suddenly, I felt like going to Tokyo. I didn't have anything else to do in the meantime anyway. It was still too early for the rental car place to be open, so I had some coffee and paced around the room. At exactly 8 a.m., I called the rental car place, and they informed me that a vehicle had just been made available. I thought, "Great. For now, I'll try not to think that I have to return it." Stepping outside, melancholy of yesterday cleared away as if it had never existed. Somehow, when I placed my foot on the gas pedal, I started feeling excited.

DAY 2: I drove on virtually no sleep. I still had a sharp headache. Just like yesterday, the sky was cloudless. Driving on a constantly straight path, my sense of time got distorted. When I stopped the car to take a break and got out, a swarm of flying insects rose up and attacked me. I rushed to take refuge from them inside the car, but it was already too late as they got inside and were buzzing around. Fully cracking the windows open, and driving at maximum speed I could, they gradually escaped outside. Looks like I won't be able to go outside any time I want unless I get away from this desert-like arid area. Later, I started to doze off more and more while driving.

DAY 3: The sky was still without a cloud. Along the way, I decided to get off the highway and head towards the sea. I wanted to go to one of the peninsula's extreme points. There was nothing special I wanted to see there, but I couldn't help but be drawn to it. I finally arrived just as the sunset was drawing near, and explored the area, starting with the lighthouse. There were ships coming and going on the horizon. It was an ocean just like anywhere else. That deep sense of security is probably what calmed me down. When I returned to the parking lot, a man calling himself "Ken" greeted me. Ken-san asked me if he could ride with me in the car. Being anxious of strangers, normally I would have refused him, but at that moment, I was enveloped by this strange sense of omnipotence for some reason, so I agreed without giving it much thought.

DAY 4: I couldn't fall asleep, so I drove throughout the night. From time to time, I'd stop and take a break, but the engine was almost always running. We were driving along the shore, but somewhere on the way, I changed lane to the left side, and proceeded along Route 7 across the mountains. Ken-san who sat in the passenger seat barely said anything throughout the whole journey. He didn't seem displeased, he just stared at the road ahead with great interest. That silence of his wasn't painful in the least. As we pressed on, we found ourselves enveloped by a thick fog. In that thick fog where you can barely see things 30 meters in front of you, I drove the car carefully, but maintained a constant speed.

DAY 5: I slept like a baby for the first time in a long while. It was only when the sun started setting that I started driving again. The fog had cleared, but I felt something like the haze I had before descending upon my mind again. Will my mind be attacked by that same hopeless sadness I felt before I had departed? But it didn't get that bad, so I was a bit relieved. I tried talking to Ken-san in the passenger seat, but that reminded me that there was no one sitting there. Despite that, I started talking. I talked and talked to myself until I ran out of words. And when there was nothing left for me to talk about, I suddenly woke up. Had I been sleeping? It didn't look like much time had passed. I started driving again.

DAY 6: I passed through several cities. After I passed through the fog, the temperature had dropped rapidly and it was chilly. My head barely hurt anymore. I kept driving as fast I could. When I pressed on the gas pedal of the slightly older car, I could feel the vibrations between the engine and the road. As I continued to drive through the dark, pressing on the accelerator, I started to feel like I might be able to transcend dimensions like Cooper and Murph. However, no message from beyond my dimension reached me. So I kept talking, like before. Talking about the loss of what was driving me. Surprisingly, the words were coming out from me left and right. Before long, my voice got hoarse and dawn started to break.

(this was a reference to the movie Interstellar)

DAY 7: I arrived in Tokyo.