With
his glasses, his slight lisp and
his obsession with getting laid,
Japanese indie film-maker and
former pornographer Hirano Katsuyuki
seems an archetypal nerd. But
this unprepossessing 35-year-old
sets himself targets most sane
people would rather die than attempt.
Shiro
The White
is a DV record of his journey
to Japan's northernmost point
(an island off the Hokkaido coast)
in mid-winter by bicycle.
Laden with 45 kilos of camping
and video equipment and emergency
supplies, he cycles ever further
north: up mountains, across icefields,
through blizzards, recording his
own trip as he goes.
His
only stated aim is to have sex
with as many as possible of his
doting female fans afterwards,
an aim accepted by his long-suffering
wife, who narrates the opening
scenes and pops up en route to
nurse him when he's hospitalised
with appendicitis. Perhaps thankfully,
this is a truly unique document.
Tony
Rayns
