The Town of Headcounts (Shinji Araki, 2020)
by Jason Suzuki
The Town of Headcounts is the debut feature from Shinji Araki. It played at this year’s Nippon Connection in their Nippon Visions section reserved for “new talents and experiments.”
In order to escape his debts, Aoyama accepts an invite to The Town. He gets dropped off with a busload of other people to this community. After receiving a mandatory injection in the back of the neck he is guided to a free hoodie and keys to his own room.
Citizens of the town are referred to as “Dudes” and “Fellows.” The ones in charge are “Tutors.” It is shown that most Fellows are coming from a form of hardship. Some are there involuntarily.
The guide to the town is referred to as The Bible. Those who ask questions are directed back to it. Besides information on the rules of conduct some pages have phrases: Equality is possible. Freedom is not a dream. Peace is not a dream.
“Families create inequality so all Dudes will live by themselves. If you have children, they will be raised in a facility for children.”
For food, people sit down to a tablet. They are instructed to give praise in order to unlock a heated compartment containing a meal. The writing prompt eventually switches from praise to bashing. Aoyama asks what they are praising and sees it does not matter as long as the prompt is followed.
Every now and then intertitles will briefly appear. White text on a black screen displaying some sort of statistic such as the number of corporate bankruptcies versus personal bankruptcies. The percentage of voter turnout. The number of homeless or missing. These types of intrusions die down in the film’s second half.
Crossing the fence to leave the town triggers a Merzbowian sound inside the head of the disobedient, making it impossible to go out without approval. The Tutors do not seem to have the same implants.
To get away for a while there are town sanctioned field trips for the Fellows. Trip activities include putting on costumes and walking into voting facilities (beforehand they are given mailed ballots with instructions on who to vote for written on the envelope); posting on social media about a burger joint’s grand opening with provided cell phones'; staging protests with signs that read “housing for the elderly,” “stop nuclear power,” and “human rights for robots.”
During one of the trips they are instructed to cover themselves with fake blood and pretend to be victims of a shooting incident by terrorists. Footage from the faked incident is aired in the same broadcast that reports the highest voter turnout in history.
There are rumors that there’s a separate town for the elderly but that sort of conversation is shut down by other Fellows.
A woman looking for her missing sister and niece is offered a chance to find them in the town. She is warned though that in doing so she “may lose herself.”
“Life is easy here. It’s also safe.”
Aoyama and another resident make an escape but it’s impossible to assimilate back into the outside world without a family registry. They resort to stealing food.
It’s not long before they are found. Aoyama makes the case for life outside of The Town: “We want to support each other and work hard. Love each other and live together. Lead our own lives.” He is laughed off as an idealist.
The Town of Headcounts is a good film. And that’s it, just a film.
