Tabi to hibi

The first story takes place in summer. Two young, lonely people meet at the beach. They talk, walk around, meet again, share a meal and go swimming in the stormy sea. The second story takes place in winter—and in the “real” world. What came before was a film-withinthe-film, shown at a screening attended by the scriptwriter. Alienated from her work and no longer able to write, she takes a trip alone to a village in the mountains. There she checks in at an isolated guest house run by an irritable older man. They talk, share a meal and go on an adventure across the vast snowy landscape. In TABI TO HIBI (winner of the Pardo d’Oro at Locarno this year), Miyake Sho adapts two stories by cult manga artist Tsuge Yoshiharu. With quiet attentiveness and the most modest of gestures, Miyake taps into the profound sadness that ails his characters and blinds them to life’s possibilities. The meta-construction of the narrative, far from a postmodern affectation, allows for poetic parallels, echoes and contrasts—complemented by the play of motifs and colours in Tsukinaga Yuta’s ravishing cinematography—that both speak to and actualise art’s capacity for opening our eyes to the world. (Giovanni Marchini Camia)

Miyake Sho: PLAYBACK (2012), MISSHI TO BANNIN (2017), AND YOUR BIRD CAN SING (2018), WILD TOUR (2019), SMALL, SLOW BUT STEADY (2022), ALL THE LONG NIGHTS (2024)