Tokyo-Ga

"It felt good just to look out the window. If only it were possible to film like that, I thought to myself, like when you open your eyes sometimes just to look without wanting to prove anything."* “Each person sees for himself: life.”* The transitions and weight of objects, or of moments that remain still while time passes above them, are steady. If one crack in a wall that’s been there for fifty years captivates the eye of a kid watching it, or an old man seeing it forty years later, it’s because life itself is flowing throughout their veil of time. Wim understands this beauty. He gazes upon a nostalgic feeling in the city, and nonetheless captures its lights and people with respect and care. He never seems to treat any space as invisible; every corner matters. Ozu’s cameraman showed the same loyalty to his friend—to stillness and patience, presence. His devotion moved me to tears. Werner Herzog’s way of thinking, of taking the best of us through a camera with the fear of being at risk for it, is what I aspire to be as a photographer. But Wim understands it differently: he thinks life itself, as it is below, is worthy of being filmed too. To that, I also agree. I find value in risk and stillness together.