(Kiju Yoshida and Mariko Okada on the set of Mizu de Kakareta Monogatari, 1965)
(Kazuo Kuroki with Mariko Kaga, directing Tobenai Chinmoku, 1966)
(Nagisa Oshima with Eiko Matsuda and Tatsuya Fuji on the set of Ai No Korida, 1976)terça-feira, 31 de agosto de 2010
Actresses and Directors: Japanese New Wave through Images
(Kiju Yoshida and Mariko Okada on the set of Mizu de Kakareta Monogatari, 1965)(Kazuo Kuroki with Mariko Kaga, directing Tobenai Chinmoku, 1966)(Nagisa Oshima with Eiko Matsuda and Tatsuya Fuji on the set of Ai No Korida, 1976)
sexta-feira, 13 de agosto de 2010
Whispering of the Gods #8
"In general, the roman-porno audience wants to see something they can't experience in everyday life. These people get excited about seeing acts which they may - or may not want to do to their wives or mates. Things they would never be able to really do without ending up in jail or divorce. For example, I was often assigned to make movies with rape scenes. I am not a person who could possibly perform rape. I want to see a lady's happy face while having sex... Movies are fantasies. Sometimes they might be ugly, but they're still fantasies. I was the dreamweaver." - Masaru Konuma
quinta-feira, 5 de agosto de 2010
An Interview with Hisayasu Sato (Love - Zero = Infinity)
(Iyarashii Hitozuma: Nureru, 1994)By Nakashima Yasushi
Q: There's a quote from you in a book in which you apparently said that you hope the audiences who see one of your films will feel like becoming murderes after watching it.
A: (Laughs) Who would say such a horryfying thing? Obviously that expression is a metaphor and an exaggeration. What I wanted to say was that society is becoming more and more individualistic and we all have to question that sometimes. So I didn't mean to encourage people to become murderers, but if you don't defend what you believe in, society can crush you and you lose your beliefs. That's what I wanted to say as a warning to people when I was interviewed. And I think I still tend to put this message in my films.
Q: So you're not suggesting to them to become murderers?
A: Not at all. I have my own beliefs and values and I want my films to transmit them and reach the audience on an emotional level. I always hope that my films stimulate the audience's sensitivities.
Q: On the other hand, do you think it's not a good idea to surpress emotion even if it's a desire to kill someone?
A: Well, if I tell them to kill, it sounds like I'm inciting murder. (Laughs) But at the end of the day, films are entertainment. I want the audience to use as much imagination and emotion as possible within the framework of watching a film. At the end of the day, everything that happens in a film is kind of happening in the space in which the audience is watching the film. I think they should be allowed to feel every emotion the film can transmit to them. And what I portray isn't anything that is supposed to lead them to do anything.
Q: The films normally have titles such as "Hentai Byoto" (Pervert Ward - Torturing White Uniforms) or Iyarashi Hitozuma Nureru (Love - Zero = Infinity). But these titles are not intended for release, are they?
A: These are the titles of the original screenplays. Basically, when we start shooting a film we use the original title to begin with, but if we use a "Pervert Ward" type of title for a release, people would report us to the police, so must of the films have titles for public consumption as well. But the titles have to be related to the storyline.
Q: So one of the reasons why they have two titles is in case you get in trouble?
A: Well, I guess you're right. (Laughs) Another reason is when shooting starts, the title hasn't been normally been finalized. So, well I guess the biggest reason is that when we open a screenplay in a town, we need an acceptable title.
Q: Personally, do you prefer the original title to remain as the final title?
A: (Laughs) Who would say such a horryfying thing? Obviously that expression is a metaphor and an exaggeration. What I wanted to say was that society is becoming more and more individualistic and we all have to question that sometimes. So I didn't mean to encourage people to become murderers, but if you don't defend what you believe in, society can crush you and you lose your beliefs. That's what I wanted to say as a warning to people when I was interviewed. And I think I still tend to put this message in my films.
Q: So you're not suggesting to them to become murderers?
A: Not at all. I have my own beliefs and values and I want my films to transmit them and reach the audience on an emotional level. I always hope that my films stimulate the audience's sensitivities.
Q: On the other hand, do you think it's not a good idea to surpress emotion even if it's a desire to kill someone?
A: Well, if I tell them to kill, it sounds like I'm inciting murder. (Laughs) But at the end of the day, films are entertainment. I want the audience to use as much imagination and emotion as possible within the framework of watching a film. At the end of the day, everything that happens in a film is kind of happening in the space in which the audience is watching the film. I think they should be allowed to feel every emotion the film can transmit to them. And what I portray isn't anything that is supposed to lead them to do anything.
Q: The films normally have titles such as "Hentai Byoto" (Pervert Ward - Torturing White Uniforms) or Iyarashi Hitozuma Nureru (Love - Zero = Infinity). But these titles are not intended for release, are they?
A: These are the titles of the original screenplays. Basically, when we start shooting a film we use the original title to begin with, but if we use a "Pervert Ward" type of title for a release, people would report us to the police, so must of the films have titles for public consumption as well. But the titles have to be related to the storyline.
Q: So one of the reasons why they have two titles is in case you get in trouble?
A: Well, I guess you're right. (Laughs) Another reason is when shooting starts, the title hasn't been normally been finalized. So, well I guess the biggest reason is that when we open a screenplay in a town, we need an acceptable title.
Q: Personally, do you prefer the original title to remain as the final title?
A: Well, I'm more used to the original title, and so when they change the storyline title to the final title for cinema it doesn't click in my mind straight away when i hear it. So I sometimes think, are they talking about my film? (Laughs) I get confused sometimes...
Q: And also you've used different names for some films?
A: Yes, you're right!
Q: I see two different names in some of your films. What is the reason behind that?
A: Well.. well.. because my films were too radical, they said they didn't want any more Sato films. (Laughs) Well, I did have trouble once before.
Q: But don't they find out it's you anyway?
A: Apparently, when they see the first scene, they can tell it's one of my films. For "Love - Zero = Infinity" we actually gave the distributor a different screenplay and made them agree to the project first. (Laughs) Well, maybe I can explain how it works. Normally, distributors request us to shoot a particular genre of film, and sometimes its "housewife" stuff and other times is "pervert" stuff. When we shot this film, we gave them a screenplay of another housewife type of film and let them agree on it. This is strictly off-the-record. And when the film shoot was completed, they realized it was an outrageous film. It was actually an infamous film. But actually this film is one of my personal favorites. Because I had to trick the distributor first to do what i wanted to do. I ended up putting all my effort into it.
Q: How you came to shoot "Love - Zero..."?
A: Ok. I briefly told you earlier that i used a different name on this piece and called myself Junichi Hata. I wrote the screenplay myself when I was an assistant director and also appeared as an extra in it. I experienced problems for a time because my films were too outrageous and weren't just erotic pink films. The theme of this film was the Dracula of the new generation, but we didn't think the distributor would accept it if we presented the screenplay as it was. Because when they hear about pink films with a housewife theme, they expect rather sexy housewife action, and that wasn't the case here. So we presented another screenplay and let them agree on it. And then shot the film we wanted to make. The films is actually one of my favorites. I guess when we do something we shouldn't have done the feelings of guilt push you to work harder to achieve better results. Also the atmosphere at the location was rather good.
Q: Is it about HIV?
A: I thought of issues such as blood diseases and the blood issue about Emperor Hirohito. I wanted to use them as a theme.
Q: When you say blood issues, what do you exactly mean?
A: I mean blood transfusions. At the time, it wasn't widely publicized in the media, but there was an accident when Hirohito needed a blood transfusion and they wouldn't take any blood for normal citizens. As you know, the Japanese Emperor system didn't allow them to do so. Then the Showa period ended, and the Heisei one started. Obviously, that change was a big change for us. For the close of the Showa Period (the reign of the Emperor Hirohito), I wanted to shoot a film with the theme of blood and used Dracula as the main theme. But that said, it obviously wasn't an ordinary Dracula film. Anyway, I then told the screenplay writter what I wanted to do.
Q: The screenplayer writter of this film was...
A: Shiro Yumeno. And the funny thing is that Yumeno also used another name for this film. He picked the name from one of the characters in the film. So when you hear that Toro Besho wrote the screenplay, you might wonder who he is.
Q: Did he changed the name for the same reason as you?
A: Yes, you're right.
Q: You've already told us about Kiyomi Ito, so the next actor is...
A: Yes, the husband..
Q: He's a well-known actor in the Japanese film industry, but for people abroad, I guess he's not that well known. Do you know his background?
A: I probably told you that when I was a student, I saw Banmei Takahashi's films. Anyway, he had already appeared in those Takahashi films by then. So he's from a much older generation than I am. At the time, Banmei Takahashi was shooting many SM type of films and when I was assistant director, I worked on many Takahashi productions such as the Shuji Kataoka movies. Anyway, Shimomoto originally started in the theater and still does some street performances.
Q: How about Takeshi Ito? He's been an actor for a long time too, hasn't he?
A: Actually, his debut was in my film called "Lolita Vibu-zeme" (Lolita's Vibrator Torture, 1987) which Shishi Production brought from Nikkatsu. You might come across the DVD of the film under the title of "Himitsuno Hanazono". The assistant of the film was Takahisa Zeze, and he met Takeshi Ito when he was shooting independent films. Apparently, Takeshi Ito decided to get into the film industry because he admired the actor.. that actor in "Chochir... that actor who died...
Q: Shoji Kaneko...
A: Yes, Shoji Kaneko! Ito wanted to be like Shoji Kaneko so he decided to join the same production which was by Eichii Uchida's theatre group called "Ginmaku Shonen Dar". At that time, I liked using inexperienced actors in my films. And the assistant director introduced me to him. He was very tall, about 189 cm. And after that he started appearing in some pink and commercial films.
Q:....
Koji Imaizumi was a member of a theatre group called "Tokyo Grand Guignol". Norimitsu Ameya or Kyusaku Shimada were also members of the same theatre group. One of his fellow actors who was appearing in my films often took him to see the private recordings. I was a bit worried at first because most of the male actors in my films are quite tough and he looked rather weak and quiet. But once I shouted "Start", he completly changed. And he really got into that character. I find those guys who normally appear quiet and have a great potential to utterly change and get into the role, like a bullet being fired.
Q: So, you had a lot of interesting characters in this film?
A: Yes, many characters in this film had very strong personalities. Also, Dai Hiramatsu who played a young guy in this film was also a friend of the assistant director. The assistant director of this film was Shinji Imaoka, who still shoots pink films. He belonged to a thetre group, maybe an actor's circle in University. Anyway, he somehow ended up being in film. Also, Homura Ryumei, who was actually an actress in this film, is now a man.
Q: Did she have a sex change?
A: (Laughs) I don't know if I should've told you this, but yes, she's had a sex change
Q: So you did spend the same amount of time shooting and directing "Love - Zero = Infinity" as on "Survey Map"
A: Yes, right.
Q: I see. Was there anything that took you a long time to do?
A: Oh yes! The screenplay of the film was too long. Normally when we shot pink films, we have to fit it all into 65 minutes. But when we first edited this film, it was around 90 minutes long. So I had to cut a lot of scenes. I remember Shiro Shimomoto said to me: "I've been in hundreds of pink films, but i've never had so many of my scenes cut." He told me that after seeing it at the private showing. I had to cut it a lot.
Q: I didn't notice that in the film.
A: Luckily I could cut the supporting scenes, so in the end I achieved a good balance.
Q: You didn't have to cut so much when you shot "Survey Map"?
A: Well, when we edit, normally it's longer than what it should be, but "Survey Map" wasn't too bad. But I was very surprised how long "Love - Zero" ended up being when edited. When I edit, it's quite common for the film to be around 75 minutes or so long. So I was expecting 10 minutes extra, but I was wrong.
Q: Earlier, you mentioned that the theme of the film was Dracula. When they hear the term Dracula, people abroad think of Vampires or Frankenstein. When they saw this film, they thought you shot it because you were interested in that. And the question is why don't you shoot this kind of film anymore?
A: Talking about Dracula, I thought of Nosferatu by F. Murnau , and Herzog, and the ones before the war. I'm a big fan of Expressionism. So when I shot this film, I deliberately shot it to make it look like a black and white film, even though it was in color. For example, I consistently used three colors in some scenes. I used a lot of visual technique like making the contrast a bit stronger. With "Survey Map", I did this to reduce image sensitivity ratings. We actually use the opposite technique more often which is to increase image sensitivity ratings by reducing color balance in order to increase graininess when developing the film. But for "Survey Map" I use the technique to reduce image sensitivities ratings. When you use this technique, the images will have a weaker color balance. And it causes a strange white membrane to remain on the base of the film. That's a kind of technique I used for "Survey Map", and for "Love - Zero" I consciously used three colors. So I used filter effects on some scenes during the editing process and combined all the scenes together in the end.
Q: So you wanted to express a more non-colorful impression?
A: Monotone was more appropriate for this film in order to enance the atmosphere. When you say vampire film, I think that's more suitable. For example, when you see old German films, like a Murnau one, you probably notice the different ways of using color like that blue they often used. Even their red looks different to ours.
Q: So in that sense, you got inspiration from those vampire films?
A: Well, in the terms of the visual side of it, yes. But story wise, I wanted to portray the same theme from different angles using blood transfusion issues as well as HIV issues. I think if you try making a pure Japanese vampire film, it wouldn't look natural. That's how i felt at that time.
Q: If you have a chance in the future would you shoot a film using the same theme?
A: Do you mean a vampire film?
Q: Yes, and one inspired by old horror films.
A: Well, yes. I didn't shoot this film to make it an horror film but it ended up being one and it was, I guess, inevitable.
Q: They think they use a lot of blood in your films? Why do you like using blood so much?
A: I wonder why too... At the end of the day, we can't live without blood. For "Love -Zero" I thought of the fact that blood that circulates us can be infected sometimes by an energy outside of our bodies which we have control of. Blood is something that exists before our bodied are formed and is our root. I was always interested in knowing what blood really is, ever since I was a child. When I was a child, I used to have nosebleeds very often. There's a child game called "hide-and-seek" in Japan. I used to wrap my body in plastic sheets that I found on a construction site. I think it was at kindergarten that I started to have nosebleeds and the bleeding wouldn't stop for a long time. Then the blood started dropping on the sheet, and I thought I'd die if it didn't stop. So I started swallowing the blood. And obviously it tastes like iron. Then I thought about why we all bleed and what blood is and what my blood is really like. Human blood are divided into four types: A, B, 0 and AB and I wondered what the real difference between these blood types was. When I looked at the blood it looked very thick and muddy. And I thought this could be the reason why human beings are two faced and behave strangely sometimes. I thought that's all to do with this pouring blood. And if we have to have a complete blood transfusion and swap our blood completly, I wondered if our personality might also change. I was interested in that sort of thing when I was a child.
Q: So portraying blood is like portraying human beings?
A: Yes, Japanese people usually use two different faces in different circumstances. So I thought, why can't we all express what we are more honestly? What are we really? Are we actually carrying green blood and not red? Well, that's a bit of an exageration, but we all have a desire to know what the other person actually thinks. So we all want to see the naked mind os the others, but we're not able to show our own. Especially Japanese people, who seem to be wearing a mask all the time. And I am the same. And I thought I wanted to get rid of any dirty blood that I might have. And there might be a possibility that because your blood is so pure you become more agressive in order to protect yourself from evil. So I thought of blood as a root of human beings and portrayed that in my film.
Q: Did you think that it's mysterious that blood is colored red?
A: They sell bottled artificial blood for theatre use that is not harmful, even if accidentally swallowed. But when we use it, it sometimes looks a bit unnatural. It seems like it all depends on the film quality. So I was very particular about those blood scenes when shooting. So I used different ways to make the blood look darker and more realistic, rather than using the brighter stuff. For example, I put Chinese ink into it, as well as red food dye. When we make a lot of blood at the same time, we normally put red food dye in it, but it wasn't enough to make it stickier and more realistic, so I added Chinese ink and a bit of lotion. I asked the assistant director to put it all in a bucket and stir it. And I checked the stickiness of it from time to time until it got right.
Q:...
A: When I first start making films, everyone seemed to think that bloody scenes were my main focus. So when I shot "Love - Zero" I wanted to make a film that made the audience feel and imagine the blood without many blood scenes. When you think of a vampire film, I guess you think of blood as the main theme, but I wanted to make a film by portraying that theme whithout actually showing blood.
Q: Earlier you said that "Survey Map" was one of your greatest films. How about "Love - Zero"?
A: Well, this is another one of my greatest films. (Laughs) So, you've got all my greatest films. But as a film, I guess "Love - Zero" had a higher quality in the finished film. I managed to portray and visualize what I envisaged in the first place. Personally, I would say that this film could be one of the best pink films ever.
Q: Among all pink films?
A: Yes. That's my personal opinion. I know it all really depends on what the audiences think of it (Laughs). But to me it was the film I could be totally satisfied with when it was completed.
Q: And also you've used different names for some films?
A: Yes, you're right!
Q: I see two different names in some of your films. What is the reason behind that?
A: Well.. well.. because my films were too radical, they said they didn't want any more Sato films. (Laughs) Well, I did have trouble once before.
Q: But don't they find out it's you anyway?
A: Apparently, when they see the first scene, they can tell it's one of my films. For "Love - Zero = Infinity" we actually gave the distributor a different screenplay and made them agree to the project first. (Laughs) Well, maybe I can explain how it works. Normally, distributors request us to shoot a particular genre of film, and sometimes its "housewife" stuff and other times is "pervert" stuff. When we shot this film, we gave them a screenplay of another housewife type of film and let them agree on it. This is strictly off-the-record. And when the film shoot was completed, they realized it was an outrageous film. It was actually an infamous film. But actually this film is one of my personal favorites. Because I had to trick the distributor first to do what i wanted to do. I ended up putting all my effort into it.
Q: How you came to shoot "Love - Zero..."?
A: Ok. I briefly told you earlier that i used a different name on this piece and called myself Junichi Hata. I wrote the screenplay myself when I was an assistant director and also appeared as an extra in it. I experienced problems for a time because my films were too outrageous and weren't just erotic pink films. The theme of this film was the Dracula of the new generation, but we didn't think the distributor would accept it if we presented the screenplay as it was. Because when they hear about pink films with a housewife theme, they expect rather sexy housewife action, and that wasn't the case here. So we presented another screenplay and let them agree on it. And then shot the film we wanted to make. The films is actually one of my favorites. I guess when we do something we shouldn't have done the feelings of guilt push you to work harder to achieve better results. Also the atmosphere at the location was rather good.
Q: Is it about HIV?
A: I thought of issues such as blood diseases and the blood issue about Emperor Hirohito. I wanted to use them as a theme.
Q: When you say blood issues, what do you exactly mean?
A: I mean blood transfusions. At the time, it wasn't widely publicized in the media, but there was an accident when Hirohito needed a blood transfusion and they wouldn't take any blood for normal citizens. As you know, the Japanese Emperor system didn't allow them to do so. Then the Showa period ended, and the Heisei one started. Obviously, that change was a big change for us. For the close of the Showa Period (the reign of the Emperor Hirohito), I wanted to shoot a film with the theme of blood and used Dracula as the main theme. But that said, it obviously wasn't an ordinary Dracula film. Anyway, I then told the screenplay writter what I wanted to do.
Q: The screenplayer writter of this film was...
A: Shiro Yumeno. And the funny thing is that Yumeno also used another name for this film. He picked the name from one of the characters in the film. So when you hear that Toro Besho wrote the screenplay, you might wonder who he is.
Q: Did he changed the name for the same reason as you?
A: Yes, you're right.
Q: You've already told us about Kiyomi Ito, so the next actor is...
A: Yes, the husband..
Q: He's a well-known actor in the Japanese film industry, but for people abroad, I guess he's not that well known. Do you know his background?
A: I probably told you that when I was a student, I saw Banmei Takahashi's films. Anyway, he had already appeared in those Takahashi films by then. So he's from a much older generation than I am. At the time, Banmei Takahashi was shooting many SM type of films and when I was assistant director, I worked on many Takahashi productions such as the Shuji Kataoka movies. Anyway, Shimomoto originally started in the theater and still does some street performances.
Q: How about Takeshi Ito? He's been an actor for a long time too, hasn't he?
A: Actually, his debut was in my film called "Lolita Vibu-zeme" (Lolita's Vibrator Torture, 1987) which Shishi Production brought from Nikkatsu. You might come across the DVD of the film under the title of "Himitsuno Hanazono". The assistant of the film was Takahisa Zeze, and he met Takeshi Ito when he was shooting independent films. Apparently, Takeshi Ito decided to get into the film industry because he admired the actor.. that actor in "Chochir... that actor who died...
Q: Shoji Kaneko...
A: Yes, Shoji Kaneko! Ito wanted to be like Shoji Kaneko so he decided to join the same production which was by Eichii Uchida's theatre group called "Ginmaku Shonen Dar". At that time, I liked using inexperienced actors in my films. And the assistant director introduced me to him. He was very tall, about 189 cm. And after that he started appearing in some pink and commercial films.
Q:....
Koji Imaizumi was a member of a theatre group called "Tokyo Grand Guignol". Norimitsu Ameya or Kyusaku Shimada were also members of the same theatre group. One of his fellow actors who was appearing in my films often took him to see the private recordings. I was a bit worried at first because most of the male actors in my films are quite tough and he looked rather weak and quiet. But once I shouted "Start", he completly changed. And he really got into that character. I find those guys who normally appear quiet and have a great potential to utterly change and get into the role, like a bullet being fired.
Q: So, you had a lot of interesting characters in this film?
A: Yes, many characters in this film had very strong personalities. Also, Dai Hiramatsu who played a young guy in this film was also a friend of the assistant director. The assistant director of this film was Shinji Imaoka, who still shoots pink films. He belonged to a thetre group, maybe an actor's circle in University. Anyway, he somehow ended up being in film. Also, Homura Ryumei, who was actually an actress in this film, is now a man.
Q: Did she have a sex change?
A: (Laughs) I don't know if I should've told you this, but yes, she's had a sex change
Q: So you did spend the same amount of time shooting and directing "Love - Zero = Infinity" as on "Survey Map"
A: Yes, right.
Q: I see. Was there anything that took you a long time to do?
A: Oh yes! The screenplay of the film was too long. Normally when we shot pink films, we have to fit it all into 65 minutes. But when we first edited this film, it was around 90 minutes long. So I had to cut a lot of scenes. I remember Shiro Shimomoto said to me: "I've been in hundreds of pink films, but i've never had so many of my scenes cut." He told me that after seeing it at the private showing. I had to cut it a lot.
Q: I didn't notice that in the film.
A: Luckily I could cut the supporting scenes, so in the end I achieved a good balance.
Q: You didn't have to cut so much when you shot "Survey Map"?
A: Well, when we edit, normally it's longer than what it should be, but "Survey Map" wasn't too bad. But I was very surprised how long "Love - Zero" ended up being when edited. When I edit, it's quite common for the film to be around 75 minutes or so long. So I was expecting 10 minutes extra, but I was wrong.
Q: Earlier, you mentioned that the theme of the film was Dracula. When they hear the term Dracula, people abroad think of Vampires or Frankenstein. When they saw this film, they thought you shot it because you were interested in that. And the question is why don't you shoot this kind of film anymore?
A: Talking about Dracula, I thought of Nosferatu by F. Murnau , and Herzog, and the ones before the war. I'm a big fan of Expressionism. So when I shot this film, I deliberately shot it to make it look like a black and white film, even though it was in color. For example, I consistently used three colors in some scenes. I used a lot of visual technique like making the contrast a bit stronger. With "Survey Map", I did this to reduce image sensitivity ratings. We actually use the opposite technique more often which is to increase image sensitivity ratings by reducing color balance in order to increase graininess when developing the film. But for "Survey Map" I use the technique to reduce image sensitivities ratings. When you use this technique, the images will have a weaker color balance. And it causes a strange white membrane to remain on the base of the film. That's a kind of technique I used for "Survey Map", and for "Love - Zero" I consciously used three colors. So I used filter effects on some scenes during the editing process and combined all the scenes together in the end.
Q: So you wanted to express a more non-colorful impression?
A: Monotone was more appropriate for this film in order to enance the atmosphere. When you say vampire film, I think that's more suitable. For example, when you see old German films, like a Murnau one, you probably notice the different ways of using color like that blue they often used. Even their red looks different to ours.
Q: So in that sense, you got inspiration from those vampire films?
A: Well, in the terms of the visual side of it, yes. But story wise, I wanted to portray the same theme from different angles using blood transfusion issues as well as HIV issues. I think if you try making a pure Japanese vampire film, it wouldn't look natural. That's how i felt at that time.
Q: If you have a chance in the future would you shoot a film using the same theme?
A: Do you mean a vampire film?
Q: Yes, and one inspired by old horror films.
A: Well, yes. I didn't shoot this film to make it an horror film but it ended up being one and it was, I guess, inevitable.
Q: They think they use a lot of blood in your films? Why do you like using blood so much?
A: I wonder why too... At the end of the day, we can't live without blood. For "Love -Zero" I thought of the fact that blood that circulates us can be infected sometimes by an energy outside of our bodies which we have control of. Blood is something that exists before our bodied are formed and is our root. I was always interested in knowing what blood really is, ever since I was a child. When I was a child, I used to have nosebleeds very often. There's a child game called "hide-and-seek" in Japan. I used to wrap my body in plastic sheets that I found on a construction site. I think it was at kindergarten that I started to have nosebleeds and the bleeding wouldn't stop for a long time. Then the blood started dropping on the sheet, and I thought I'd die if it didn't stop. So I started swallowing the blood. And obviously it tastes like iron. Then I thought about why we all bleed and what blood is and what my blood is really like. Human blood are divided into four types: A, B, 0 and AB and I wondered what the real difference between these blood types was. When I looked at the blood it looked very thick and muddy. And I thought this could be the reason why human beings are two faced and behave strangely sometimes. I thought that's all to do with this pouring blood. And if we have to have a complete blood transfusion and swap our blood completly, I wondered if our personality might also change. I was interested in that sort of thing when I was a child.
Q: So portraying blood is like portraying human beings?
A: Yes, Japanese people usually use two different faces in different circumstances. So I thought, why can't we all express what we are more honestly? What are we really? Are we actually carrying green blood and not red? Well, that's a bit of an exageration, but we all have a desire to know what the other person actually thinks. So we all want to see the naked mind os the others, but we're not able to show our own. Especially Japanese people, who seem to be wearing a mask all the time. And I am the same. And I thought I wanted to get rid of any dirty blood that I might have. And there might be a possibility that because your blood is so pure you become more agressive in order to protect yourself from evil. So I thought of blood as a root of human beings and portrayed that in my film.
Q: Did you think that it's mysterious that blood is colored red?
A: They sell bottled artificial blood for theatre use that is not harmful, even if accidentally swallowed. But when we use it, it sometimes looks a bit unnatural. It seems like it all depends on the film quality. So I was very particular about those blood scenes when shooting. So I used different ways to make the blood look darker and more realistic, rather than using the brighter stuff. For example, I put Chinese ink into it, as well as red food dye. When we make a lot of blood at the same time, we normally put red food dye in it, but it wasn't enough to make it stickier and more realistic, so I added Chinese ink and a bit of lotion. I asked the assistant director to put it all in a bucket and stir it. And I checked the stickiness of it from time to time until it got right.
Q:...
A: When I first start making films, everyone seemed to think that bloody scenes were my main focus. So when I shot "Love - Zero" I wanted to make a film that made the audience feel and imagine the blood without many blood scenes. When you think of a vampire film, I guess you think of blood as the main theme, but I wanted to make a film by portraying that theme whithout actually showing blood.
Q: Earlier you said that "Survey Map" was one of your greatest films. How about "Love - Zero"?
A: Well, this is another one of my greatest films. (Laughs) So, you've got all my greatest films. But as a film, I guess "Love - Zero" had a higher quality in the finished film. I managed to portray and visualize what I envisaged in the first place. Personally, I would say that this film could be one of the best pink films ever.
Q: Among all pink films?
A: Yes. That's my personal opinion. I know it all really depends on what the audiences think of it (Laughs). But to me it was the film I could be totally satisfied with when it was completed.
quarta-feira, 4 de agosto de 2010
Lovers Corner #1 - Cedric's Choices
Lovers Corner is a place where you can publish your own reviews about Japanese Cinema. If you have a review of a film you want to see at Nihon Cine Art just send it to Eigagogo@gmail.com with your name. Thank you!
(Tsuito no Zawameki, 1988)Narita: Heita Village (1973)
(Sanrizuka: Heta Buraku, 1973)
(Sanrizuka: Heta Buraku, 1973)Heta Village (1973) is Shinsuke Ogawa’s sixth entry to his Narita series, filmed between 1967 and 1977, about the struggles occurred in Narita to protest the impending demolition of the village to make way for an airport. It differs a lot in style from the fourth installment, The Peasants of the Second Fortress (1971): The latter shows directly the confrontation between the people and the riot police, while the former is much more lyrical for showing carefully conducted Buddhist and traditional ceremonies, besides the stories of many dwellers from the titular village (an old woman who almost got killed by her husband in her 20’s, the relocation of a graveyard caused by the government’s destruction of an ancient burial ground). That different perception of reality reminds one of Ogawa’s later A Japanese Village – Furuyashikimura (1982), more preoccupied too with anthropological matters and the connection between man and nature (In the 1973 production, the pro-airport families left their land, and the relation becomes evident with the quote “When the farmers see these fields… It makes them feel as if their flesh is rotting”). But Heta Village continues the main story, even if in a new way from Peasants: the conflict is presented only by its effects to the people. One of the most important “subplots” involves the unjust arrest of some of the denizens’ sons for the death of three policemen – who not even died in action – and Ogawa with his team show the aftermath of the event until the youths get back from prison, 90 days later. During the festival, a father from one of these young men rises and state what might sum up the admirable (although at times violent) determination of the villagers: “Even though they have been arrested, their spirits have not been imprisoned” . Magnificent."
by Cedric Alexander
terça-feira, 3 de agosto de 2010
An Interview with Hisayasu Sato (Survey Map of Paradise Lost)
(Hard-Focus: Nusumi-Giki, 1988)By Nakashima Yasushi
Q: In order to make a living, do pink film directors have to shoot as many films as possible in a short period?
A: Yes, but pink films aren't always profitable and you sometimes end up bearing some of the loss. It's a very hard industry. The budget is always small from the beggining, but when shooting starts it's hard to keep it as low as the producer wants. Because you want to make a good film, so the spending rises.
Q: So if you keep costs low then your fee will automatically be higher?
A: Yes, I guess so.
Q: But I guess it's difficult to work in that way... Is it the same for actors and actresses?
A: (Laughs) I don't tend do ask what they do, but I'd guess most have a second job. For actresses when they're young, they get offered many projects but as they get older, roles for them in pink films become less and less. Up to a certain age they might be able to make a living from it. But you can be young or old, a man or a woman, it's hard to make a living out of it without some kind of a second job.
Q: Adult video is another thing they try, I guess?
A: Well, I suppose, but it depends on how the AV industry is doing.
Q: Is there much difference (between Pink and Adult Video) ?
A: I suppose the main difference would have to be the subject matter.
Q: Is working in pink films just like studying at film school, where you learn new technical skills?
A: (Laughs) At the time, it was very difficult to become a director, after having only three years of assistant director experience. I was 25 years old when I became a director, and it was almost impossible to have such an opportunity elsewhere. It's different now as many young people do good work in the TV film industry, but that's how it was for me at the time.
Q: I guess it's difficult to get into film...
A: Yes, that's right.
Q: What do you think the biggest differences are between Japan and the West in understanding your films?
A: Well, how can i put it? As regards to my own films, because i've been influenced by western culture since i was a child, you'd think my films would be rather westernized. But when I make a film, my origins are clearly projected on the film and it seems obvious. At the end of the day, I'm japanese, and I think that's something unexplainable very deep in my soul. For example, the coolness and brutality you sometimes see in my films are things I don't think about all the time but it's naturally portrayed in my films. If I and a western director were both given the same screenplay, the two films that we'd both make would probably be very different. And that's something very difficult to analyze and explain.
Q: ...
A: Japan is turning towards individualism more and more thanks to western influences. It used to be as if you would open a door to a big room and your parents and grandparents would be there in the family environment, but now they're in small private rooms and society has become rather twisted. Japanese people are known for liking to be in a group, such as when they go abroad. So it seems that even now, although we all have small private spaces we still like to feel that we belong to a group and experiencing human contact. That's why you hear of young kids creating a fictional family or friends in their own fantasy world that they can control through their computer. I think it's very unnatural behaviour.
Q: So you think it's rather twisted when kids rely on fictional families?
A: I see a very strange world full of twisted and selfish emotions. Kids decide how to perceive reality on their own.
Q: How did you come to make "Survey Map of a Paradise Lost"?
A: I was asked to shoot a film that used an eavesdropper as a subject and I saw Francis Ford Coppola's film... what was the title?
Q: "The Conversation"?
A: Yes, "The Conversation". I like that film. At that time, there was a story on the news that a member of staff at NTT (Telecom) had been exposed as an eavesdropper and I thought that it wasn't really suited to be an regular entertainment film, so I decided to make into a pink film by using the incident at NTT and I expanded the story into a complete fiction.
Q: In the film, you used NDT instead of NTT.
A: Yes, I changed the name.
Q: But it's quite obvious, isn't it?
A: (Laughs) Yes, it is!
Q: So you used the social conditions of the time as a motif.
A: That's right. And I'd always been intrested in the subject of eavesdropping. I think there's a kind of thrill in secretly listening in to someone else's conversation using electronic waves. And if you take it a stage further, it's like you're invanding someone's mind, almost like telepathy. It's almost a realization that people have two faces. They might be wearing a smile on the outside but you can see they probably aren't smiling on the inside. And you see the two faces that human beings have. That's what i wanted to portray.
Q: Talking about the actors. How about Ms. Ito?
A: Yes, Kiyomi Ito...
Q: Kiyomi Ito seems to be the heroine of your films at that time.
A: Yes, she's been the heroine since i shot my debut film. She's actually the same age as me.
Q: Is she the best actress that you've used?
A: The best actress? I guess so. Well, she's not the sexiest actress, and she's very short. So, I didn't like to use her because she is sexy, but because she has individuality and a strong personality. She's very different to others from the mainstream. She's good at bridging the gap between herself and the mainstream.
Q: So you like her expressive qualities?
A: Not only that, but also her way of thinking and personality. Technically, she isn't the best actress or anything, but she adds something extra to what i wanted to portray. She enhances the atmosphere. She breaths life into a film as if she's dancing. I'm not saying she actually dances, though (Laughs).
Q: She adds meaning to your vision?
A: Yes, that's right. She understands what i want to portray very well. So I cast her as a leading character in many of my films.
Q: I couldn't find much for Kiyomi Ito's personal profile, but it is right that she started working on original video?
A: Video.. well I think she was doing many things. But originally she belonged to a theater company and worked in the costume department. And I believe she was doing that sort of video work as well as film work as part-time jobs in order to make a living. I guess she was about 22 years old when she started pink movies. I first met her at an interview when I was an assistant director.
Q: I see. You were a interviewer then?
A: Well, I had to do casting as well and that's how I met her. I saw this dull quiet-looking girl walk into the cafe we were casting in. And she said "good-afternoon" in a very soft voice. We were looking for an actress for a comedy, so we thought she wasn't suitable at all. But we used her for SM films a couple of times and that's how we started working together. A director called Umezawa, who's dead now, directed those. Anyway, she's been in so many films. I guess she was in around 100 films a year. Now she owns a hostess club in Golden Town.
Q: So most of the actors have come from some kind of acting background?
A: Well, some of them are from theater and others are from Adult Video. We get different types of people all the time. We sometimes get actors from drama school. Actor's backgrounds are getting broader and broader nowadays.
Q:...
A: I just remembered about Rio Yamagawa. "Survey Map of a Paradise Lost" was her last film. She didn't even turn up for the post-recording.
Q: Is that so?
A: Yes! (Laughs) Perhaps I shouldn't have tell you this.
Q: So, it's not her voice?
A: No, it's Kyoko Hashimoto's. Do you know her?
Q: Do you mean...?
A: Yes, Yes. I think she was the most popular pink actress at the time. We asked her to do the job on the day of post-recording. So it ended up being a better film.
Q: There's a scene on the top of a building.
A: Wait a second. Do you mean the last scene?
Q: I think it was in the middle of the film...
A: Ah.. I think it was the scene I shot in New State Mega
Q: It's when they're talking about Yukiko Okada commiting suicide.
A: Yes, Yes! She's talking about the lunchbox shop. Yes, I remember now.
Q: After that scene, she's wearing red clothes, and the scene is shot with a kind of blue effect.
A: I got you. Yes I remember. That was the top of our production company's building. It was called New State Mega. At the time, we used that location quite a lot.
Q: So, it's Rio Yamagawa in the film, but it's Kyoko Hashimoto's voice?
A: That's right. I spoke to Rio the day before and told her what time the post-recording session would be. But she didn't showed up for recording. A couple of months later, I was reading a magazine and saw a face that was very familiar. She looked like Rio but her eyes were different. She'd had cosmetic surgery and went into Adult Video under a new name.
Q: So it was her re-debut?
A: That's right. She had a very strong personality, but she was originally from Northern Japan. And she had a very strong accent. But Kyoko Hashimoto came in and voiced her character in the film. So everything turned out okay.
Q: So, when you shot "Survey Map of a Paradise Lost" did you complete it within four days?
A: Well, I'm not sure if we finished everything within four days. It might've taken five days to finish everything. We normally use twenty reels of film with one reel containing about 400 feet. So in total it's around 80 minutes and the finished film should be an hour. And there's unused film between takes that we have to cut. Anyway, the editing process takes around a day to complete. We edit it to a rough version and then we start to tweak it. After that we move onto post-recording. And as we're doing that we're still tweaking one or two bits, but we do that in one day too. We work in a studio to create any necessary sound effects such as the incidental noises that aren't picked up during filming. Then we spend a day on dubbing. We call it MA. That's how we complete a film. Because we used quite a lot of video shots it took a comparatively long time to edit the footage into a film. There were times when we couldn't find the necessary footage and realized that we'd shot over the scene and deleted it. (Laughs) So we do sometimes have this kind of trouble. That's what caused us to delay the completion of the film. Also when we get into a shoot, there's a strange atmoshphere. I tend to become absorbed in the process and it's hard to maintain a normal mentality in such an environment. I got very excited and the tension is very high. I forget the time and I don't get tired even if it turns into a night shot. It doesn't seem to matter. My mind is fully awake. Not only with "Survey Map", being on location is always exciting, it's just like being in a film itself. I got very emotional.
Q:...
A: I think it was this film... Sorry my memory is not that good. Anyway in the film, Kiyomi Ito's character has an itchy skin condition that she has to scratch. So she can't have normal sex with her husband, and he has to apply a lot of lotion to her and chill her skin during intercourse. So that portrayed a kind of itchiness, which is accompained by pain. In Japan, people call sex scenes, "a wet place". So we tend to think of wet skin as being very erotic. So when I shoot a sex scene, I tend to consciously use wetness. I like using a mucous membrane or imagine sex in amniotic fluid. For this film, I wanted to look at things from a different perspective and decided to use a slightly different visual expression using such scenes.
Q: I guess you needed a lot of effort to make that happen...
A: Yes, It's like I said earlier about eavesdropping, trying to get into other people's emotions of what they are thinking deep down. I wanted to portray communication, not just linguistic communication, but communication through human senses. But communication through the body inevitably distorts the messages. But their desire to share something with someone drives them mad. Then their sense of touch becomes dysfunctional. Then we realize how vulnerable the human senses are. Well, that was the kind of thing i was thinking when i made this movie. I think human beings are leading a more and more twisted existence. For example, you hear that because of poor construction standards, we're actually unconsciously inhaling harmful substances such as asbestos. When talking about our culture, we're becoming somewhat disabled. Because of all the problems that you hear about nowadays and looking at our current society, I can't help think there is a link.
Q: So the electric shocks you used are a way of communicating?
A: Oh, well yes. They are. A lot of time in my films, the theme or subject I use is carried across from the other films. In my film, "Abnormal Ingyaku" (Re-Wind, 1988), I wanted to portray a reality that only exists in the film. And with "Survey Map" I explored the relationship between man and machine. I think i wanted to portray a human being replaced by some sort of eavesdropping device or a person that has become a kind of telephone receiver.
Q: A human as a machine.
A: Yes, just like a machine. The communication between the a receiver and a transmitter represents human communication.
Q: They're human, but not totally.
A: Right.
Q: "In Survey Map", Rio Yamagawa plays a girl called Midori. Do you think Midori was the victim, or was she the assailant?
A: Such a difficult question (Laughs).
Q: She was trying to trick Kihara but at the same time she was also being abused by him.
A: But human beings are victims and assailants at the same time. That's how our existence works in everyday life. We use a lot of metaphor to portray reality. So I'm not interested in categorizing individuals as just victims or assailants.
Q: So she can be both?
A: Yes. And she flips from one to the other. Even more if she's a teenager, because teenage years are a very sensitive period and teenagers can experience two very opposite worlds. Midori's a sensitive girl, but she can't yet fully understand what she really is. And she can't controll her emotions. I'm interested in that kind of mentality. A personality that is totally fluid. She's sensitive but at the same time possesses cruelty. As if she's carrying a concealed knife.
Q: Is it more evident because she's a girl?
A: When she's thinking of death, she's kind of in a fantasy world but ends up mixing this world with reality and committing a crime.
Q: Is "Survey Map" a film that portrays hatred towards women?
A: I think the film portrays respect towards women! (Laughs) I adore the fact that women can possess a kind of poison. The side they think is in their womb. It's something very mysterious that, as man, I can't understand. Only the actresses in the film can do this and add a delicacy and a sensivity so I have to entrust it to them.
Q:...
A: We talked about the electric cable scene earlier. Anyway, that's their way of feeling their nature as women and making it tangible. I'm not talking about the pain, it's more of an exchange of love for them. It's not abuse; it's something mutual between men and women. Because she wants to understand a deeper side of her man, she uses her body to communicate. And the pain isn't something important to her and she wants to tap into the emotions and minds of men. If I call it love, it might sound too much but she does that because she wants to penetrate into men's emotions.
Q: So it's not hatred.
A: No, it's not.
Q: You were saying that it's one way that love can be expressed. And you're not wishing to humiliate women.
A: I used this kind of expression in the film but actually some of my films use a completly opposite portrayal. One of my films is about the lives of gay men and that film has the same theme but portrays things in an opposite way. But i can't deny that is much easier and more effective to portray this theme using a female body.
Q: Out of all your films, how would you rank "Survey Map"?
A: It's one of my favorites. The films i shot from 1988 to 1989 are probably my best films. I managed to shoot the films I wanted to in that period. I think i shot around five or six films that year. But I managed to shoot what i wanted for all the films.
Q: So, they are your greatest films.
A: (Laughs) Greatest films! You can say that!
Q: In any case, your best films
A: Yes, I suppose.
Q: Thinking about how society was at that time was there anything that consciously affected you?
A: Well, it was just before the crash of the bubble economy. Everyone seemed to be weak and idolizing money. But my life was very hard. So there was this massive gap between society in a bubble economy and myself trying to shoot pink films. And I asked myself: "Has something gonw wrong?"
Q: So the feelings you had led you to shoot these kind of films?
A: Yes, I suppose so.
A: Yes, but pink films aren't always profitable and you sometimes end up bearing some of the loss. It's a very hard industry. The budget is always small from the beggining, but when shooting starts it's hard to keep it as low as the producer wants. Because you want to make a good film, so the spending rises.
Q: So if you keep costs low then your fee will automatically be higher?
A: Yes, I guess so.
Q: But I guess it's difficult to work in that way... Is it the same for actors and actresses?
A: (Laughs) I don't tend do ask what they do, but I'd guess most have a second job. For actresses when they're young, they get offered many projects but as they get older, roles for them in pink films become less and less. Up to a certain age they might be able to make a living from it. But you can be young or old, a man or a woman, it's hard to make a living out of it without some kind of a second job.
Q: Adult video is another thing they try, I guess?
A: Well, I suppose, but it depends on how the AV industry is doing.
Q: Is there much difference (between Pink and Adult Video) ?
A: I suppose the main difference would have to be the subject matter.
Q: Is working in pink films just like studying at film school, where you learn new technical skills?
A: (Laughs) At the time, it was very difficult to become a director, after having only three years of assistant director experience. I was 25 years old when I became a director, and it was almost impossible to have such an opportunity elsewhere. It's different now as many young people do good work in the TV film industry, but that's how it was for me at the time.
Q: I guess it's difficult to get into film...
A: Yes, that's right.
Q: What do you think the biggest differences are between Japan and the West in understanding your films?
A: Well, how can i put it? As regards to my own films, because i've been influenced by western culture since i was a child, you'd think my films would be rather westernized. But when I make a film, my origins are clearly projected on the film and it seems obvious. At the end of the day, I'm japanese, and I think that's something unexplainable very deep in my soul. For example, the coolness and brutality you sometimes see in my films are things I don't think about all the time but it's naturally portrayed in my films. If I and a western director were both given the same screenplay, the two films that we'd both make would probably be very different. And that's something very difficult to analyze and explain.
Q: ...
A: Japan is turning towards individualism more and more thanks to western influences. It used to be as if you would open a door to a big room and your parents and grandparents would be there in the family environment, but now they're in small private rooms and society has become rather twisted. Japanese people are known for liking to be in a group, such as when they go abroad. So it seems that even now, although we all have small private spaces we still like to feel that we belong to a group and experiencing human contact. That's why you hear of young kids creating a fictional family or friends in their own fantasy world that they can control through their computer. I think it's very unnatural behaviour.
Q: So you think it's rather twisted when kids rely on fictional families?
A: I see a very strange world full of twisted and selfish emotions. Kids decide how to perceive reality on their own.
Q: How did you come to make "Survey Map of a Paradise Lost"?
A: I was asked to shoot a film that used an eavesdropper as a subject and I saw Francis Ford Coppola's film... what was the title?
Q: "The Conversation"?
A: Yes, "The Conversation". I like that film. At that time, there was a story on the news that a member of staff at NTT (Telecom) had been exposed as an eavesdropper and I thought that it wasn't really suited to be an regular entertainment film, so I decided to make into a pink film by using the incident at NTT and I expanded the story into a complete fiction.
Q: In the film, you used NDT instead of NTT.
A: Yes, I changed the name.
Q: But it's quite obvious, isn't it?
A: (Laughs) Yes, it is!
Q: So you used the social conditions of the time as a motif.
A: That's right. And I'd always been intrested in the subject of eavesdropping. I think there's a kind of thrill in secretly listening in to someone else's conversation using electronic waves. And if you take it a stage further, it's like you're invanding someone's mind, almost like telepathy. It's almost a realization that people have two faces. They might be wearing a smile on the outside but you can see they probably aren't smiling on the inside. And you see the two faces that human beings have. That's what i wanted to portray.
Q: Talking about the actors. How about Ms. Ito?
A: Yes, Kiyomi Ito...
Q: Kiyomi Ito seems to be the heroine of your films at that time.
A: Yes, she's been the heroine since i shot my debut film. She's actually the same age as me.
Q: Is she the best actress that you've used?
A: The best actress? I guess so. Well, she's not the sexiest actress, and she's very short. So, I didn't like to use her because she is sexy, but because she has individuality and a strong personality. She's very different to others from the mainstream. She's good at bridging the gap between herself and the mainstream.
Q: So you like her expressive qualities?
A: Not only that, but also her way of thinking and personality. Technically, she isn't the best actress or anything, but she adds something extra to what i wanted to portray. She enhances the atmosphere. She breaths life into a film as if she's dancing. I'm not saying she actually dances, though (Laughs).
Q: She adds meaning to your vision?
A: Yes, that's right. She understands what i want to portray very well. So I cast her as a leading character in many of my films.
Q: I couldn't find much for Kiyomi Ito's personal profile, but it is right that she started working on original video?
A: Video.. well I think she was doing many things. But originally she belonged to a theater company and worked in the costume department. And I believe she was doing that sort of video work as well as film work as part-time jobs in order to make a living. I guess she was about 22 years old when she started pink movies. I first met her at an interview when I was an assistant director.
Q: I see. You were a interviewer then?
A: Well, I had to do casting as well and that's how I met her. I saw this dull quiet-looking girl walk into the cafe we were casting in. And she said "good-afternoon" in a very soft voice. We were looking for an actress for a comedy, so we thought she wasn't suitable at all. But we used her for SM films a couple of times and that's how we started working together. A director called Umezawa, who's dead now, directed those. Anyway, she's been in so many films. I guess she was in around 100 films a year. Now she owns a hostess club in Golden Town.
Q: So most of the actors have come from some kind of acting background?
A: Well, some of them are from theater and others are from Adult Video. We get different types of people all the time. We sometimes get actors from drama school. Actor's backgrounds are getting broader and broader nowadays.
Q:...
A: I just remembered about Rio Yamagawa. "Survey Map of a Paradise Lost" was her last film. She didn't even turn up for the post-recording.
Q: Is that so?
A: Yes! (Laughs) Perhaps I shouldn't have tell you this.
Q: So, it's not her voice?
A: No, it's Kyoko Hashimoto's. Do you know her?
Q: Do you mean...?
A: Yes, Yes. I think she was the most popular pink actress at the time. We asked her to do the job on the day of post-recording. So it ended up being a better film.
Q: There's a scene on the top of a building.
A: Wait a second. Do you mean the last scene?
Q: I think it was in the middle of the film...
A: Ah.. I think it was the scene I shot in New State Mega
Q: It's when they're talking about Yukiko Okada commiting suicide.
A: Yes, Yes! She's talking about the lunchbox shop. Yes, I remember now.
Q: After that scene, she's wearing red clothes, and the scene is shot with a kind of blue effect.
A: I got you. Yes I remember. That was the top of our production company's building. It was called New State Mega. At the time, we used that location quite a lot.
Q: So, it's Rio Yamagawa in the film, but it's Kyoko Hashimoto's voice?
A: That's right. I spoke to Rio the day before and told her what time the post-recording session would be. But she didn't showed up for recording. A couple of months later, I was reading a magazine and saw a face that was very familiar. She looked like Rio but her eyes were different. She'd had cosmetic surgery and went into Adult Video under a new name.
Q: So it was her re-debut?
A: That's right. She had a very strong personality, but she was originally from Northern Japan. And she had a very strong accent. But Kyoko Hashimoto came in and voiced her character in the film. So everything turned out okay.
Q: So, when you shot "Survey Map of a Paradise Lost" did you complete it within four days?
A: Well, I'm not sure if we finished everything within four days. It might've taken five days to finish everything. We normally use twenty reels of film with one reel containing about 400 feet. So in total it's around 80 minutes and the finished film should be an hour. And there's unused film between takes that we have to cut. Anyway, the editing process takes around a day to complete. We edit it to a rough version and then we start to tweak it. After that we move onto post-recording. And as we're doing that we're still tweaking one or two bits, but we do that in one day too. We work in a studio to create any necessary sound effects such as the incidental noises that aren't picked up during filming. Then we spend a day on dubbing. We call it MA. That's how we complete a film. Because we used quite a lot of video shots it took a comparatively long time to edit the footage into a film. There were times when we couldn't find the necessary footage and realized that we'd shot over the scene and deleted it. (Laughs) So we do sometimes have this kind of trouble. That's what caused us to delay the completion of the film. Also when we get into a shoot, there's a strange atmoshphere. I tend to become absorbed in the process and it's hard to maintain a normal mentality in such an environment. I got very excited and the tension is very high. I forget the time and I don't get tired even if it turns into a night shot. It doesn't seem to matter. My mind is fully awake. Not only with "Survey Map", being on location is always exciting, it's just like being in a film itself. I got very emotional.
Q:...
A: I think it was this film... Sorry my memory is not that good. Anyway in the film, Kiyomi Ito's character has an itchy skin condition that she has to scratch. So she can't have normal sex with her husband, and he has to apply a lot of lotion to her and chill her skin during intercourse. So that portrayed a kind of itchiness, which is accompained by pain. In Japan, people call sex scenes, "a wet place". So we tend to think of wet skin as being very erotic. So when I shoot a sex scene, I tend to consciously use wetness. I like using a mucous membrane or imagine sex in amniotic fluid. For this film, I wanted to look at things from a different perspective and decided to use a slightly different visual expression using such scenes.
Q: I guess you needed a lot of effort to make that happen...
A: Yes, It's like I said earlier about eavesdropping, trying to get into other people's emotions of what they are thinking deep down. I wanted to portray communication, not just linguistic communication, but communication through human senses. But communication through the body inevitably distorts the messages. But their desire to share something with someone drives them mad. Then their sense of touch becomes dysfunctional. Then we realize how vulnerable the human senses are. Well, that was the kind of thing i was thinking when i made this movie. I think human beings are leading a more and more twisted existence. For example, you hear that because of poor construction standards, we're actually unconsciously inhaling harmful substances such as asbestos. When talking about our culture, we're becoming somewhat disabled. Because of all the problems that you hear about nowadays and looking at our current society, I can't help think there is a link.
Q: So the electric shocks you used are a way of communicating?
A: Oh, well yes. They are. A lot of time in my films, the theme or subject I use is carried across from the other films. In my film, "Abnormal Ingyaku" (Re-Wind, 1988), I wanted to portray a reality that only exists in the film. And with "Survey Map" I explored the relationship between man and machine. I think i wanted to portray a human being replaced by some sort of eavesdropping device or a person that has become a kind of telephone receiver.
Q: A human as a machine.
A: Yes, just like a machine. The communication between the a receiver and a transmitter represents human communication.
Q: They're human, but not totally.
A: Right.
Q: "In Survey Map", Rio Yamagawa plays a girl called Midori. Do you think Midori was the victim, or was she the assailant?
A: Such a difficult question (Laughs).
Q: She was trying to trick Kihara but at the same time she was also being abused by him.
A: But human beings are victims and assailants at the same time. That's how our existence works in everyday life. We use a lot of metaphor to portray reality. So I'm not interested in categorizing individuals as just victims or assailants.
Q: So she can be both?
A: Yes. And she flips from one to the other. Even more if she's a teenager, because teenage years are a very sensitive period and teenagers can experience two very opposite worlds. Midori's a sensitive girl, but she can't yet fully understand what she really is. And she can't controll her emotions. I'm interested in that kind of mentality. A personality that is totally fluid. She's sensitive but at the same time possesses cruelty. As if she's carrying a concealed knife.
Q: Is it more evident because she's a girl?
A: When she's thinking of death, she's kind of in a fantasy world but ends up mixing this world with reality and committing a crime.
Q: Is "Survey Map" a film that portrays hatred towards women?
A: I think the film portrays respect towards women! (Laughs) I adore the fact that women can possess a kind of poison. The side they think is in their womb. It's something very mysterious that, as man, I can't understand. Only the actresses in the film can do this and add a delicacy and a sensivity so I have to entrust it to them.
Q:...
A: We talked about the electric cable scene earlier. Anyway, that's their way of feeling their nature as women and making it tangible. I'm not talking about the pain, it's more of an exchange of love for them. It's not abuse; it's something mutual between men and women. Because she wants to understand a deeper side of her man, she uses her body to communicate. And the pain isn't something important to her and she wants to tap into the emotions and minds of men. If I call it love, it might sound too much but she does that because she wants to penetrate into men's emotions.
Q: So it's not hatred.
A: No, it's not.
Q: You were saying that it's one way that love can be expressed. And you're not wishing to humiliate women.
A: I used this kind of expression in the film but actually some of my films use a completly opposite portrayal. One of my films is about the lives of gay men and that film has the same theme but portrays things in an opposite way. But i can't deny that is much easier and more effective to portray this theme using a female body.
Q: Out of all your films, how would you rank "Survey Map"?
A: It's one of my favorites. The films i shot from 1988 to 1989 are probably my best films. I managed to shoot the films I wanted to in that period. I think i shot around five or six films that year. But I managed to shoot what i wanted for all the films.
Q: So, they are your greatest films.
A: (Laughs) Greatest films! You can say that!
Q: In any case, your best films
A: Yes, I suppose.
Q: Thinking about how society was at that time was there anything that consciously affected you?
A: Well, it was just before the crash of the bubble economy. Everyone seemed to be weak and idolizing money. But my life was very hard. So there was this massive gap between society in a bubble economy and myself trying to shoot pink films. And I asked myself: "Has something gonw wrong?"
Q: So the feelings you had led you to shoot these kind of films?
A: Yes, I suppose so.
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