His Motorbike, Her Island (1986)

Price: Free! Drinks & snacks will be provided!

"And then the wind would blow. It would truly be summer. And summer is where my heart lies."

Vox Film Club is back with a bang (in this case an engine backfiring). Our first theme this coming quarter will be 'young love'; films in this theme will hearken back to those naive, fledgling romances of our youths. First up will be His Motorbike, Her Island (1986), directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi.

While balancing his studies at music school and his part-time-job as a messenger, Ko (Hearthrob Riki Takeuchi) still finds plenty of time to ride and fondle his Kawasaki motorcycle in the streets of Tokyo. However, after breaking up with his girlfriend Fuyumi (Noriko Watanabe, a 'J-pop idol' and the future wife of Sam Neill), and suffering a beatdown by her brother, he decides to take a trip to the countryside in an attempt to forget the whole affair and start a “new story”. By coincidence, he runs into Miyoko (Kiwako Harada, yet another 80s 'J-pop idol'), who is also on vacation and who is quite taken with the young man in front of her, as well as his motorbike.

His Motorbike is on the less obviously experimental side of Obayashi’s works, but of course this doesn't mean he didn't utilise some of his trademark visual techniques. As well as being a creatively shot film, the most prominent editing technique is the switching between vivid, modern colour and nostalgic black & white from frame to frame; memory and present forever colliding. This wonderful film is an ode to youthful exuberance, young love, and the follies of adolescence, if you're not risking a horrifically gruesome highway accident daily are you even living?

After the film we will have an optional discussion where you can share your thoughts/experiences with your fellow viewers!

 If you can't make it but signed up please let us know ASAP. We rely on sign-ups to know how much food/supplies to buy; when you don't show up we end up wasting money!

Organised by: VOX Delft and Studium Generale