Jason Gray and Twitch go behind-the-scenes on Shinji Imaoka's "Underwater Love"

by Chris MaGee

Itw as in June that word came down about a very, very interesting film project that was being put in the works. The title of the project - "Underwater Love", a pinku eiga musical about the mythical aquatic spirit, the kappa. Directing the film is pink film legend Shinji Imaoka, while the cinematography duties would fall to none other than Christopher Doyle, the man behind the canera on such films as Wong Kar Wai's "In the Mood for Love" and Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's "Last Life in the Universe". Besides these names two other names that fans of Japanese film will immediately know have been involved with polishing the screenplay - Nippon Connection's Alex Zahlten and Midnight Eye co-founder Tom Mes.

"Underwater Love" isn't due out until next year, but fellow Japanese film blogger Jason Gray was supremely lucky to get to go and visit the set of the film on the banks of Lake Kasumigaura in Ibaraki Prefecture recently; plus he brought his camera and got some exclusive behind-the-scenes shots! His full set report has been posted over at Twitch, so make sure to head over and have a read through and look through!