Connected Flower [Nobumichi Asai, Japan, 2017]

Nobumichi Asai’s Connected Flower is for more optimistic in outlook in comparison to his two films in the Inori series (see previous articles). This film has a very global approach, this time using technology to visually quantify messages of love. Asai takes twitter messages that contain loving sentiments, with each tweet represent by a single particle of light that appears on its corresponding place on a virtual globe. A robotic flower sits atop this globe with each unit of light/love acting as a kind of nutrient that will cause the flower to bloom.

It is a nice idea, although it isn’t entirely clear if this experiment ever took place or if the video is more of commercial pitch (a Honda logo appears at the start of the film). The film is slight, clocking in at less than 90 seconds, and ultimately not successful as his other works. One thing is for certain is that Asai is a filmmaker concerned with the foibles of the world at large, whose heart is full of hope and whose mind is replete with revolutionary ambitions.