Director YAMASHITA Nobuhiro was a special guest at CAMERA JAPAN 2024, presenting five movies at the festival: Ghost Cat Anzu, Confession, Swimming in a Sand Pool, Let’s Go Karaoke! and the opening film One Second Ahead, One Second Behind. Programmer Theodoor Steen talked to him hours before the festival opening.
“I like a challenge”.
——You made five films in the span of just two years. How did this come about?
Two of the five films were actually already in production five to eight years ago. And then COVID started, and obviously the industry was having difficulties. When film-making slowly restarted, I revived those two older projects. But I also started to work on the new projects and they were released concurrently.
——The five films are stylistically very different. There is a thriller, a film that plays with a time-element, even an anime. What is the element that makes them typically yours?
As director I deliberately approach each film I make differently. I found it easier to make these very different films than films that share the same style. I like a challenge. I’m the type of director who focuses on collaboration, for example, an actor, cameraman or writer. My focus is on the people I’m going to work with, more so than on a theme. For instance, wanting to work with an actor I find fun or appealing. Like for Confession, I really wanted to work with Yang Ik-june, the Korean actor. And I wanted to make a thriller.
——You often work with young actors or children. Do you approach directing them differently?
Yes, children, for example, have obviously little to no experience. And because of that, to paraphrase a Japanese expression, they are “not colored” in any way yet. So you start from scratch. That makes it possible for me to focus on the very basics, like the screenplay. Whereas veteran actors will base their acting on their own experiences. They bring a different tool set. It requires a different approach.
——Both Confession and Swimming in a Sand Pool are set mostly in one location. What’s the appeal for you about this?
So first of all, I would say practicality is a major thing. With one set you don’t need to move around a lot. It helps me to focus not only on myself, the director, but also on the crew. It also puts pressure on me to really let the screenplay speak. It is very challenging for me as a director, and I like that. Fun fact, the pool in Swimming in a Sand Pool and the shed of Confession, those are actually in the same place. The pool is an unused pool at a high school. And the shed was built in the gym of that same school. And no one has noticed.
——You said you like to change things up. Was that a challenge in the case of Ghost Cat Anzu, making an animation?
To be very frank about it, no. It was not a different approach because I filmed the live-action before co-director Kuno Yoko and her team rotoscoped the film. The idea to do the animation based on existing live-action footage came from the producer. So thanks to him I didn’t have to focus on the animation part. It was very much the usual way of working as I was fairly familiar with the cast and crew on this one.
——Many of your films are music-based. Like Linda Linda Linda, Lalala at Rock Bottom and now Let’s Go Karaoke!. How do you approach music in your films?
There’s actually a line in Linda, Linda, Linda, which is a film about a girl band that copies the music of the famous band Blue Hearts. And they get asked at some point, “What’s the point of being in a cover band”. And the answer is: “It doesn’t have much meaning.” And it is kind of my feeling that that is a good thing. That if you do something that does not hold actual meaning, it becomes more pure. The purity is in doing it just for the sake of doing it. It is much more pure than, for example, if a musician is very technically proficient, or using their beautiful voice to make it in the industry. I’m much more interested in something without a reason or rationale. Something that is just done by impulse.
——Do you approach film-making the same way? Seeking that spontaneity, or purity?
Yes, thank you so much for that question. I would say yes, that is so. Making a film where everything has a purpose or reason is not very interesting to me. And this is not only the case with films, but other things in life as well. Making something that is unexplainable, and has no reason, that for me is challenging. And what makes it human. The impulsiveness makes it fun for me.
——One last question, is there anything you want to add?
So for me, this has been my first experience of making five films in two years. And I’m really grateful, honored and happy that they are all shown together at one film festival for the first time. I didn’t want to miss this, for anything. And for a director it is very rewarding to see the audience reactions. So I intend to watch along with the audience to kind of grasp where they laugh, and how they read the films. It will be very rewarding.
Many thanks to KUNIMORI Shione for interpreting at the interview.