Hyakunengo no aru hi: A weird, quiet walk through time

Should you watch Hyakunengo no aru hi? Honestly, it depends on how much you enjoy silence. If you are the type who needs a plot hook every five minutes, you will probably hate this. It moves at the pace of a slow leak in a faucet.

But if you like movies that feel like a stray thought you had at 3 AM? You might actually stick with it.

Shigeji Ogino clearly isn't interested in holding your hand here. The camera lingers on landscapes for an eternity. There is this one shot of a rusted fence that goes on for so long I started wondering if my screen had frozen. It hasn't. It’s just the movie, being stubborn.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Hyakunengo no aru hi (1933) through its definitive frames.

It feels a lot less polished than something like Far from the Madding Crowd, where every frame feels like a painting. Here, it feels like a home video from the end of the world. It’s jagged. It’s rough. It feels real in a way that makes you slightly uncomfortable.

Observations from the couch

• The lighting in the second act is surprisingly orange. It gave me a headache, but I couldn't look away.
• The main character’s shoes are visibly falling apart. I don't know if that was a wardrobe choice or if the production just ran out of money, but it works perfectly.
• There is a moment involving a plastic bag caught in a tree that lasted about 40 seconds too long. I think I laughed? I'm not sure.

There are moments where the film tries to be deep, and it hits that mark about half the time. Other times, it just feels like watching someone else’s dream. It lacks the punchy rhythm of Seven Chances, but that’s clearly not the point. It’s not trying to be clever. It’s just trying to exist.

I found myself thinking about The Man Upstairs while watching this, mainly because of the sense of isolation. But where that film feels claustrophobic, this one feels like it’s floating in a vacuum. It’s strange. 🎞️

Don't look for a moral. Don't look for a grand reveal at the end. It doesn't happen. It just ends, almost like the film ran out of tape. Which, in a weird way, felt exactly right.