Kikola: The Timekeeper (2013)

Kikola - the Timekeeper is a meditative travelogue that moves through various populated and unpopulated sites in Cambodia, Bali, japan, California, and Arizona. It is visually striking-sometimes breathtakingly so-along with being thoughtful and well crafted. The predominate visual technique the film employs is stop-motion, coupled with a precisely-controlled camera executing very slow tilts, pans, tracking, and crane shots. The combined result is compelling-it creates a feeling both agitated and serene. The overall structure of Kikola shifts from the sacred to the profane to the natural world back to the sacred as a coda. I say this although the film does not stay pure and will, for instance, intercut shots of nature with what I regard as the main theme of a particular section.