Sans Soleil

Directed by CHRIS MARKER
Narrator Stewart France. 1983. (Cert 15)

Reviewed by Darren Guy

‘The more you watch Japanese TV the more you feel it’s watching you’ Someone once told me, ‘any talentless fool can learn how to work a camera it’s the eye for the piece that’s important’. Filmed during the late 70s and early 80s in Japan, Korea, Cape Verdi and a number of other places, Sunless is an experimental documentary with the soundtrack a mixture of music and lyrical prose. For the most part it works well; though some bits I feel were lazily thrown together, and the story for the film written afterward. The most striking moments in the film included a scene showing young down and outs in South Korea drinking and shouting at passing cars, along with the scene portraying crowds of Japanese people gathered around a funeral pyre of hundreds of traditional Japanese dolls.

It gave an insight into the stark cultural differences between North Asian culture and British culture. There were also some poignant statements as the camera toured the faces of the poor in Cape Verde and Guinea – Bissau as they prepared for independence from Portuguese rule.