The Cats of Gokogu Shrine
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“ But who will clean up their poop?”
Overview
In The Cats of Gokogu Shrine documentary auteur Kazuhiro Soda (Campaign) uses the lens of beautiful kitties to examine the passage of time in an aging, traditional community on the edge of Japan's Inland Sea. The small port of Ushimado is home to the ancient Shinto shrine of Gokogu, which in turn is home to a colony of stray cats. Despite their cuteness the animals have become a divisive issue: some citizens care for them, feeding them and running an elaborate catch-and-release desexing program; others complain about the mess and fear that their town will fall victim to the social media-driven touristification that has dramatically altered parts of Japan. Observing the quotidian rhythms of seasons and maintenance done by hand, Soda locates the complex undercurrents beneath an idyllic surface, and the compromises inherent in coexistence.
“Soda has developed into one of the discipline’s most interesting, and freest, artists”
“(Soda's) films demonstrate the value of consistency and repetition...he models a wise, compassionate, and easily replicable way of looking at the world”
“Absorbing and penetrating...an intimate, complex portrait”
Why You Should See This Film
This is Soda's tenth observational documentary feature, made using his Ten Commandments— a self imposed series of constraints such as “shoot for as long as possible” and “cover small areas deeply” that are intended to minimise preconceptions about the subject, opening the filmmaker and viewer up to rewards that can only come through looking and listening patiently. While the cats, along with the elderly townsfolk and kids who dote on/antagonise them, are incredibly charming, Soda avoids the trap of kawaii-Japan anthropology that smooths off the rough edges of a precarious existence. Moving, transportive and at times heartbreakingly real, The Cats of Gokogu Shrine is an intimate handcrafted look into a disappearing world.
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