Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on January 2011

French filmmaker Vincent Moon has built up quite a reputation as a director of music documentaries (Little Blue Nothing) and as a cameraman for concert films (All Tomorrow’s Parties). His experimental project The Take-Away Shows, shot for the web, features famous musical acts (R.E.M., Arcade Fire, Sigur Ros and many more) doing improvised performances in outdoor locations. So it seems natural that Moon would jump up and fly to Japan when he heard about the wild man-poet-musician Kazuki Tomokawa, who has been painting, writing songs, composing poetry, and performing in tiny local venues for 35 years. Tomokawa’s music does have a raging, painful beauty to it, which his supporters will tell you crosses over to the profound. That may or may not be the case, but, as revealed in this doc, the man is an alcoholic who didn’t help raise any of his four children; can become violent with audience members; and gambles away all of his money on bicycle racing. With this unsympathetic background, the romantic view of the artist fades and the film is not as engaging as it thinks it is. All screenings will have English subtitles. Original title: Les Fautes des Fleurs: A Portrait of Kazuki Tomokawa. (70 min)