At first, the film seems a simple document of Japanese farmers at work as the mist in the lovely landscape behind then slowly clears. But gradually we notice, first, that they seem to be arranging the small piles of hay they are making, specifically in relation to the focal range of the 16mm camera; and later, that they are carefully using the hay to cover only that portion of the field revealed by the camera. The early sense of the camera’s objective detachment from what is recorded is gradually transformed into a recognition that Lockhart and the farmers are collaborating on a work of art.

Scott MacDonald