Mori, the Artist's Habitat

Film description

An episode in the life of Mori (Tsutomu Yamazaki), an eccentric painter who practices his art in his garden, surrounded by insects, cats and the fish in his pond. With the exception of his wife (Kirin Kiki), he is hesitant to interact with people and rarely meets with anyone. This contributes to his legend, and his abode becomes a local attraction for nosy fans. His everyday harmony is shattered with the appearance of a film crew shooting a documentary about him and local eco-activists protesting against aggressive moves by developers. The planned modernisation will not only change the local landscape, but also destroy the microcosm of the garden, so integral to Mori’s art. The painter is a silent rebel devoted to observing nature and harmonious existence.

Mori, the Artist’s Habitat is yet another brilliant biography of an eccentric subject directed by Shuichi Okita. This time, it’s the avant-garde artist Morikazu Kumagai, known as the “Hermit Painter”, who gained fame for his depictions of nature and his vivid, stylized cat portraits. He spent most of his life in the garden behind his house, avoiding people and curious stares. This is where Okita shows him – the painter is fully devoted to creating art and contemplating, carving out an oasis untouched by time in the world of breakneck technological development which comes to mind when we think of Japan. Okita invites us to Mori’s garden, which resembles an enchanted bubble of the natural world, where the human and the non-human coexist, in spite of the hostility of the outside world, in keeping with an environmental philosophy.

text:
Łukasz Mańkowski