''Level Five'' is a 1997 French

pseudo-documentary A pseudo-documentary or fake documentary is a film or video production that takes the form or style of a documentary film but does not portray real events. Rather, scripted and fictional elements are used to tell the story. The pseudo-documentary, ...

or fake documentary film, directed by

Chris Marker Chris Marker (; 29 July 1921 – 29 July 2012) was a French writer, photographer, documentary film director, multimedia artist and Essay#Film, film essayist. His best known films are ''La Jetée'' (1962), ''A Grin Without a Cat'' (1977) and ''S ...

and starring

Catherine Belkhodja Catherine Belkhodja (born 15 April 1955) is a French artist, actress and film director. Early life On 15 April 1955, Belkhodja was born in Paris, France, to an Algerian father and a French mother. She lived and studied in Algiers where she ...

Plot

Laura, the widow of a computer programmer. Attempts to overcome her grief by completing her late husband's last work, a video game reconstruction of the Battle of Okinawa in which she hopes to simulate an alternative outcome to the historical tragedy. All the while she documents the process, intending to provide the material for a new film by her late husband's friend Chris Marker.

Cast

as Laura *

as himself and narrator * Kenji Tokitsu, martial artist, interviewed as himself *

Nagisa Oshima NaGISA (Natural Geography in Shore Areas or Natural Geography of In-Shore Areas) is an international collaborative effort aimed at inventorying, cataloguing, and monitoring biodiversity of the in-shore area. So named for the Japanese word "nagisa ...

, cineast, interviewed as himself * Ju'nishi Ushiyama as himself * Kinjo Shigeaki as himself

Reception

Keith Uhlich of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' named the re-release of ''Level Five'' the sixth-best film of 2014, tying it with '' The Congress''.

References

External links

* * *
''Level Five'' Transcripts
1997 films 1997 documentary films Battle of Okinawa Films directed by Chris Marker French documentary films 1990s French-language films Films about video games Films about virtual reality Films produced by Anatole Dauman Japan in non-Japanese culture 1990s French films {{France-documentary-film-stub