Ascent (2016)

Directed by: Fiona Tan | 80 minutes | drama | Actors: Hiroki Hasegawa

The Fuji volcano in Japan is exactly how you imagine a volcano: a perfectly concentric cone with a flattened top where the crater is, and around the crater a rim of snow for decoration. An iconic volcano, therefore, and a source of religion, mysticism and symbolism. And in Japan, of course, also an object of nostalgic affection, just like the blossom tree. Only where the blossom tree represents the transience of beauty, the beauty of Fuji is seemingly immutable. Over the centuries, it has taken its iconic place in drawings, engravings, paintings and photographs. One of the more famous works focusing on Fuji is the ukiyo-e series of prints ‘Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji’ (1858) by Utagawa Hiroshige, which shows the mountain from different angles.

In ‘Ascent’ (2016) artist Fiona Tan steps into that tradition and shows us the elusiveness of Mount Fuji as a cultural icon in four thousand photos and eighty minutes. It is a colorful collection of one hundred and fifty years of photography: nineteenth century photo shoots with Japanese or Westerners in traditional Japanese clothing and a painted Fuji as a backdrop; stereoscopic pictures of climbs; WWII military propaganda photos featuring Emperor Hirohito; spectacular aerial photos; recent snaps taken with mobile phones, and much more. The photos are grouped by subject, moment of time and point of view. The mountain has been photographed from a seemingly infinite number of different landscapes through time: villages, lakes, forests, flower fields, industries and, of course, the capital Tokyo (which is only a hundred and twelve kilometers away). It seems as if there is no escaping the strict contours of Fuji; the omnipresent mountain as a mysterious third in countless scenes depicted.

Besides Fuji, there are two more characters, Mary (Tan herself) and Hiroshi, whose monologues are intertwined as a voice-over. Mary reflects on the Fuji photo collection of her late lover Hiroshi, and on his letter to her describing his ascent of the mountain. Mary and Hiroshi’s stories keep the viewer focused, they structure the order of the photos and suggest a storyline. They also contain historical and philosophical asides, which are interesting but regularly get stuck in generalities. For example, she refers to Van Gogh, who greatly appreciated the idyllic ukiyo-e prints. These woodcut prints circulated widely in 19th-century Europe, after they were considered old-fashioned in Japan. Van Gogh saw the Japanese as an uncomplicated people, living in harmony with nature. Tan rightly notes that Japanese are anything but straightforward. Which nation is that? But she doesn’t explain this in the context of her subject. Mary’s musings on the difference between film and photography are also not fully understood. That’s not so bad, it suits the elusiveness of her subject; this obsessive relationship between man and mountain is waiting for an explanation that just keeps coming. However, the lack of synergy between image and voice-over is made up for by the at times beautiful and hypnotic collage of photos that together are more than their separate parts.