Borrowing its title from a treatise by Aristotle, the latest film by Makino Takashi is an abstract work that finds its drive in the clash between light and darkness. Entirely composed of superimposed images of Tokyo’s landscape and water sites, the film takes its rhythm from the cycles of repetition that are the pillars of life and civilisation. As light emerges from the chaos, Jim O’Rourke’s ambient drone sets the tone for what is to come.

Cenotes—sources of water that in ancient Mayan civilization were said to connect the real world and the afterlife. The past and present of the people living in and around them intersect, and distant memories echo throughout immersive scenes of light and darkness.

A shadow reveals its form from the darkness underground. It communicates with a woman's consciousness, and she begins to see fragmentary memories that transcend time and place, as if daydreaming. The shadow takes on the woman's form and travels. Situating itself in places invisible from above ground, it traces what once happened there, listening to the human memories buried in the flow of time.

A shadow reveals its form from the darkness underground. It communicates with a woman's consciousness, and she begins to see fragmentary memories that transcend time and place, as if daydreaming. The shadow takes on the woman's form and travels. Situating itself in places invisible from above ground, it traces what once happened there, listening to the human memories buried in the flow of time.