On the Road: A Document was originally commissioned by the traffic division of Japan’s police administration. Tsuchimoto used this opportunity to collaborate with the drivers’ unions. An exquisite city symphony centered on a taxi driver and his family, this is ultimately an intimate portrait of the people, traffic, and sounds of Tokyo. The film turned out to be one of the great documentaries made about of this rapidly shifting society. In its dynamic attention to detail and sound, the film was not what the sponsors anticipated, and it was never publicly released.
“Suzuki Satsuo’s skilfully manipulated hand-held camera with a long lens is meticulous, at times sentimental, at times bold, focusing on his subject in a way that seems as though it were composing a melody with images. On the Road showed us a new, powerful type of image. The images themselves, rather than any voice-over narration, speak to us directly, showing us a rich, fertile work.” — Shinomiya Tetsuo
Japanese spoken with English subtitles
