+ & - (Plus and Minus)1973

"Of the new foreign work I saw, (at the Avantgarde Film Festival in London) t hat of Taka Iimura interested me most – His film + & -, using scratched sign, displayed how perception can be molded by concept. By postulating negative duration – a length of black, say six seconds, minus a length of white, say three seconds, equals a length of black three seconds – the gradually emerging experience of 'backward-running' duration, through a long series of these visual sums, was very surprising." Malcolm Le Grice, Studio International, Nov., 1973 "During the past five years the concerns which Iimura explored in Models have reached their most complete refinement in + & -, 1to 60 Seconds, and 24 Frames Per Second. – For those who do come to Iimura's films feeling oblige d to sit in a theater and concentrate on a screen and assuming that the filmmaker will reward their effort and discipline by providing something to look at, +&- (and in particular, Iimura's presentation of a complete set of additions and a complete set of subtractions) can create considerable frustration. Clearly, however, Iimura's decision to present both halves of what he views as a complete film experience is not made in the interests of pleasing everyone. Like most works of art, + & - is exhibited in the hope that some port ion of those who attend a screening will be flexible enough to develop ways of relating to the film which will enable them to get something out of the experience Iimura has provided." – Scott MacDonald, Afterimage, April, 1978