Blind Alley

A sort of documentary by a bright young actor-director (he plays the young Mishima in Paul Schrader's Mishima), shot on video and transferred to 16 mm film. Riju starts out talking about his own inability to feel political commitment and his uncertainties about cinema, then stumbles on an inarticulate and reclusive young truck-driver and decides to make a film about him. The film records their encounters over a period of weeks, with Riju driven into a frenzy of frustration by the boy's passivity and lack of interest in 'important' questions, until they finally come to blows. This is funny and surprisingly engrossing - and a surprise ending rockets it into another dimension entirely.