Tokyo Olympiad (1965)

Synopsis: Commissioned to create a record of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Kon Ichikawa's film is executed with the same attention to detail and sense of formal beauty characteristic of his fictional masterworks. Assisted by the great cameraman Kazuo Miyagawa (cinematographer on classic films such as... Commissioned to create a record of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Kon Ichikawa's film is executed with the same attention to detail and sense of formal beauty characteristic of his fictional masterworks. Assisted by the great cameraman Kazuo Miyagawa (cinematographer on classic films such as Akira Kurosawa's RASHOMON, Yasujiro Ozu's UKIGUSA, and Kenji Mizoguchi's UGETSU), who supervised the 164 camera operators the project required, the director thrusts the viewer into the games in medias res rather than dwelling on the familiar narrative rhythms of victory and defeat. Ichikawa does spend some time on the heroes of the Games, such as famed Ethiopian marathoner Abebe Bikila in his attempt to repeat his gold medal performance of four years earlier, and sprinter Bob Hayes, who demonstrates why he was once known as the fastest man alive. But Ichikawa is equally drawn to the intensity, dedication, and self-discipline of the nonmedalists, for whom their sport is a way of life--a Soviet woman hammer thrower caught in freeze-frame, yacht-race crewmen hanging far over the side of a boat, and an exhausted marathon runner rushed to the hospital. Employing frequent cuts to spectator reactions, he also makes them participants in the drama of competition. While almost diametrically opposed in form and function to OLYMPIA, Leni Riefenstahl's 1938 masterpiece, this gorgeous, lynx-eyed film deserves a place alongside it in film history. [More]