Gaku 楽

"Drawing and animation are my methods of introspection, my preferred medium for untangling the chaos within my heart. I am someone who is extremely susceptible to external influences and suggestions. Without a stable core, unable to give myself solid affirmation, I am a powerless leaf amidst the voices of others and the uncontrollable forces of the outside world—a leaf that is utterly capricious. I refuse to be changed, refuse to have what I protect taken away. Driven by a kind of spiritual survival instinct, I desperately cling to my own reflection. It is my ideal self, the person I want to become, and I refuse to sever that connection. Yet this shadow remains untouchable, so ethereal that even a gentle breeze or light rain can disturb it, let alone storms and towering waves. Unstable as I am, I cling tightly to this unstable image of my ideal self, unwilling to let go. By the end of the film, I boldly imagine: once I was shattered by storms and waves—they are neutral, external, magnificent, and full of uncontrollable power. If I were to merge with them, along with my ideal self, perhaps I could attain inner peace? One day, I might not struggle and resist everything as I do now. At that time, I might finally gain a stable self, and my heart might become more expansive." "I am obsessed with Japanese koto music. The first time I heard this piece, 'Gaku,' the image of 'a protagonist overwhelmed by the irresistible force of beautiful ocean waves' naturally formed. One could say the entire film was made for this single scene (laughs). For the production materials, I used the charcoal powder I'm fascinated with (the kind you can brush your teeth with), combining a technique of charcoal drawing with unfixed powder sprinkling. I employed frame-by-frame hand-drawn animation, shaping the charcoal powder by hand on paper and capturing it immediately through photography. Once shot, the charcoal powder falls, is wiped away, and that image ceases to exist. It's a method with no turning back, well-suited to my self-destructive creative temperament. The only thing that can capture and record its existence is the camera. It is immediate, improvisational, irreplicable, filled with intense emotion and impulse, explosive, wildly expressive, ever-changing, and reflective of the creator's state of mind in the moment."