Yoyogi
Max Golomidov / & / 2022
Beautifully observant film from Tokyo's answer to Central Park, a much-needed respite for millions of people that daily evolves into a picture-perfect, absurdist piece of real-life theatre.
In 1910, the first Japanese pilot ever took off from Earth. His runway was in the huge Yoyogi Park in the middle of Tokyo. In 1967, the planes were replaced by people who have since waltzed to the park. And between its pink cherry trees and huge bamboo bushes, and on its green grassy plains, visitors and park animals put on a giant play every day without even realising it. Young couples sit and kiss, two women juggle cymbals, a man in red trousers plays a melodica, another lies asleep. Children play, a monkey on a leash is aired and red leaves light up on a tree’s slender branch. ‘Yoyogi’ is a quiet meditation on the great play that takes place in Yoyogi Park as the seasons change in the background.