Filmcollege #2: The Unreliable Narrator + A Man Vanishes ¹⁹⁶⁷

Shohei Imamura's Japanese New Wave classic begins as a search for Tadashi Oshima, a 32-year-old salesman who has disappeared for unknown reasons. Originally intended as a TV series about the high number of disappearances in Japanese society, this metadoc initially disguises itself as a TV report with an interviewer patiently trying to reconstruct a man's life.

However, the film gradually emerges as a reflection on the subjectivity of filmmaking and Japanese culture in general. The more witnesses tell about the missing man, the more elusive he becomes. The narrative counterpart to Imamura's typical 'messy' visual style takes shape, with abrupt zooms and grainy close-ups that imitate the realism of TV reports. Over time, the film takes on a more abstract form, with sudden cuts, out-of-sync audio and crew reactions revealing the construction of reality.