Accessibility Settings

text size

colour options

monochrome muted color dark

reading tools

isolation ruler

The First Love

Hatsukoi

Mari Terashima’s Hatsukoi was made in 1989 while she was studying under Japanese experimental filmmaking giant Toshio Matsumoto at the Kyoto University of Art & Design. The haunting film, made without any dialogue, is full of gothic symbol- ism: candles, tarot cards, thorny red roses and white birds shot in close-up. The faint outline of a narrative follows four characters: a pure young girl in a red dress; the older, mustachioed gentleman in a wheelchair with whom she lives; a boy in a sailor outfit who gazes towards the girl with loving eyes; and an old woman who spreads tarot cards.

Correspondence translation by Kei Masuda

Director

Mari Terashima

Country

Japan

Year

1989