Das Geheimnis Koumiko

Once again i was struck by Marker's insightful poetic way of portraying.

Although i watched it on a very old and worn out VHS-Tape i still could feel the magic every Marker-film is holding. Watching a film like this makes you feel like you are accompanying Marker on a journey from a distant star to our blue planet observing every habit, gesture and thought of mankind. You could say that "Sans Soleil" and "Le Mystere Koumiko" are very alike but there are some significant differences between those two films.

"Mystere Koumiko" concentrates more on the individual. While the narrator in "Sans Soleil" keeps a certain distance this time Marker involves very intimate conversations focusing especially on one person's mind. But the interesting thing which fascinates me is the way how Marker still succeeds portraying a whole society (be it Japanese or mankind in general) just by focusing on one individual. The shown footage of everyday life are clearly not focused on one individual ;) but the entire narrative is structured by the individual thoughts of Koumiko and Marker himself which also reflect the thoughts of millions of people at the same time.

Being an huge admirer of Chris Marker's work it is very sad to witness that he is yet very unknown to most of the people. He definitely deserves a larger degree of popularity ... that's for sure! ;)