There is a world of film that only certain people in Japan can get into touch with – the jishu-eiga, the ultra-independent scene of filmmaking. To get a glance at what these directors create one must visit what is called a mini-theatre in Japan.

Luckily, Thanks to Third Windows Films, film-lovers can finally have taste of this vibrant scene from the comfort of their own home. Fans of Third Windows Films will be happy to hear that the first New Directors From Japan, which introduces Takashi Ono to international audiences, does not only feature his first feature film I Am Baseball but also his short-films, like Fashion Runner.

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One day, after passing three stylish girls on campus, a plainly-dressed girl (Karin Tsuji) is halted by one of the three university’s fashion runners (Mio Yasuda). She promptly asks her why she lacks the motivation to be stylish. The second stylish girl (Aika Matsuda) lambasts her lame clothes. The third fashion runner (Sakura Nakamura) attacks her for her dialect – the speech-elements betraying her countryside origin. The first fashion runner then tells her that, as a woman, she cannot escape the need to be stylish. Not that much later, she finds a lipstick in her rice-cooker.

With Fashion Runners, Takashi Ono delivers an absurd experiment that playfully exploits the dynamic between female subject, ego as body-image, and societal discourses. The crux of the film circles around two slightly controversial statements made by the fashion runners: A woman cannot escape the need to be stylish and that not being stylish proves that one is not a woman.

The spectator must understand that the image of femininity these fashion runners identify with is function of societal discourse. Their image of what a women should look like is determined by the signifier the Other has given them: stylish. Yet, these women, in essence, seek to please the patriarchal Other – they parade because they want to be looked at as the prime example of how a women should present herself within the societal field.

Ono shows, with an absurdist flair, the effect of the over-investment in the image – the ego as reflected to the Other – and certain societal discourses on the subject and the way he relates to the others. The clinging to fashionable style does not only cancels out subjectivity – the signifier stylish orients all their speech, but turns their interactions with others into volatile cocktails of bullying punches, jealous re-approaches, and vengeful violence. Can the plainly-dressed girl fight back against the demand to be stylish or will she succumb to the pressure?      

The composition of Fashion Runner offers, at first glance, nothing more than a straightforward mix of static shots and fluid tracking dynamism. However, Takashi Ono proves his creative talent by paying attention to visual beauty in the composition of his static moments – e.g. the three fashion runners lining up, and giving his composition a seductive flair by thoughtfully organizing the flow of static and dynamic moments and utilizing visual repetition effectively for light-hearted purposes. Ono, moreover, visually pleases the spectator with some truly colourful Mondrian-like interior-designs.  

Fashion Runner fully embraces the Showa-style in its presentation. The vagueness of the imagery and the dust and scratches gives the short-film a genuine dated look. The use of title cards evokes filmic times of a bygone era. And the light-hearted retro-music give this dated cake its cherry on the top (sound-note 1).

Fashion Runners offers a revealing glance at the experiments Takashi Ono created before creating his first-feature film. Absurd, energetic, inventive. This delicious hors-d’oeuvre bursts with creativity. Highly recommended.  

Notes:

Sound-note 1: Ono also adds some retro-sounds to decorate the fighting and some light-hearted decorations for comical effect.