The Girl in the Picture

The debut film of Nobuhiko Obayashi (House/Hausu) is a wistful experimental short in which his formal dexterity is already evident.

In the debut film of Nobuhiko Obayashi (House/Hausu 1977), a man reminisces about a girl in his past (played by Obayashi's soon-to-be wife Kyoko). This 8mm variation on the Japanese genre seishun eiga (“youth films”) finds Obayashi already experimenting with formal technique, utilising split-screen techniques, a mix of colour and black & white, and a fractured narrative - despite its low budget and indie genesis.

Part of a package of short films specially curated by Matchbox Cineclub, who have also created the English subtitles/SDH for this exclusive digital presentation for the first time outside Japan. This presentation is derived from the best quality materials available.