Six Questions for... Takanori Tsujimoto

During the past four years Japan has reasserted itself as a leader in splatter, gore films with a cabal of filmmakers and special effets wizards like Noboru Iguchi (The Machine Girl), Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police), Yuji Shimomura (Alien vs. Ninja) and Tak Sakaguchi (Yakuza Weapon). All of these directors have gathered under the auspices of Nikkatsu's genre wing Sushi Typhoon, and proudly wave the banner for cult exploitation cinema. Not all of this new batch of splatter/ action filmmakers fall into tyhe Sushi Typhoon group, although many have close ties with them. One of these filmmakers is Takanori Tusjimoto. Born in 1971 in Osaka Tsujimoto originally studied to be a dental technician, but his love for the films of Takashi Miike and Atsuhi Muroga he decided to make a radical career shift. He debuted as a director with his 1998 independent film "One Gun Story" and went on to collaborate with anime director Mamoru Oshii on his 2007 omnibus film "The Women of Fast Food" as well as the omnibus film "Kiru = Kill", for which Tsujimoto directed the segment "Two Guns". Most fans of Japanese splatter/ action films will know Tsujimoto for his two "Hard Revenge Milly" films, both starring actress Miki Mizuno. Most recently Tsujimoto's horror detective film "Red Tears" was selected as part of the line-up of the 24th Tokyo International Film Festival. We were happy to ask our six question survey to Tsujimoto this past fall. CM


1. What movie inspired you to become a film-maker? What was it about the movie that was inspiring?

“The Killer” by John Woo. I am fascinated by violent and beautiful gunfights.


2. Is there someone you always wanted to work with on a project, but have never had the chance?

Kenichi Matsuyama.


3. Please finish this statement: If I had not become a film-maker I would probably be a ________.

Dental Technician (my former work).


4. Which three people (besides film-makers) have had the biggest influence on you?
(only one response) Hirohiko Araki, cartoonist


5. What is your favorite book? Why is it your favorite?

“African game cartridges” by Makoto Fukami. It influenced the way I see action imagery.


6. What moment in your career has made you most proud so far?

When my films were played at overseas film festivals and were accepted by audiences.


Check out Takanori Tsujimoto's blog here.

Translation by Chikako Hirao Evans

Six Questions for... Go Shibata

The past 15 years has seen some truly innovative work coming from the indie film scene in Japan, films that form a series of street level snapshots of a country dealing with serious social and economic decline. One things about these fearless visions is that many of their creators, first time directors and screenwriters, come and go, leaving us with wonderful individual films, but without satisfying bodies of work. One independent filmmaker who has bucked this trend is Go Shibata. Born in 1975 in Kanagawa Prefecture, Shibata was one of many of this generation of filmmakers who studied at Osaka University of the Arts Film Program. He brought to of his major artistic themes, damaged outsider characters and ear-splitting music and sound design, to his 1999 feature debut "NN-891102", the story of a young man trying to recreate the sound of the August 1945 bombing of Nagasaki. It would be several years before Shibata would bring audiences his best known film, 2004's "Late Bloomer", but this portrait of a serial killer afflicted with cerebral palsy has ensured Shibata a place in the top tier of contemporary Japanese filmmakers. In 2008 Shibata flirted with the mainstream when he directed "Punch the Blue Sky", the story of an indie rock band's attempt to make it big, but he returned to his roots with the astoundingly creative and confounding supernatural comedy/ drama "Doman Seman". Premiering at the 2010 Tokyo Filmex "Doman Seman" went on to win the Nippon Visions Award at this year's Nippon Connection Japanese Film Festival in Frankfurt, Germany. We were honoured to have Go Shibata answer our Six Questions for... survey. CM


1. What movie inspired you to become a film-maker? What was it about the movie that was inspiring?

“Eraserhead”. There is a foreboding feeling of “something” throughout the film. It is filled with this sense of the unknown. I am inspired by any of the scenes. It not only describes fear and anxiety, but it is also very dreamlike; the delusions are linked directly to the image. The way the film expresses itself goes beyond reality. The film is like a prose poem.


2. Is there someone you always wanted to work with on a project, but have never had the chance?

Mike Patton [lead singer of Faith No More, Mr. Bungle]


3. Please finish this statement: If I had not become a film-maker I would probably be a ________.

Writer.


4. Which three people (besides film-makers) have had the biggest influence on you?

Musician Ai Yamatsuka
Photographer Oliviero Toscani
Takeshi Kitano


5. What is your favorite book? Why is it your favorite?

“The Wheel Of Time: The Shamans Of Mexico Their Thoughts About Life Death And The Universe” by Carlos Castaneda. I have read this book so many times… well actually, I just look through the pages. It was like tarot cards. I think that I just look through pages when I need it. It was very helpful for my image training. I do not have a copy any more, but I will buy it again when I need it.


6. What moment in your career has made you most proud so far?

When I shot and edited Osoi Hito (Late Bloomer), including meeting Masakiyo Sumida. And also, when I received the dream digital award at the Hawaii Festival. This is a great memory in 2005.

Translation by Chikako Hirao Evans

Six Questions for... Reiko Ohashi

Thus far in our continuing feature, Six Questions for..., we have limited our survey to some of the bigger names of Japanese indie film. As we continue in the coming weeks and months we will also be speaking with some up-and-coming filmmaking talent, directors we think you should know about and keep an eye on in years to come. One of these is Reiko Ohashi, the 31-year-old Fukuoka-born director of of the 2010 feature "Door to the Sea" (read Marc Saint-Cur's review of the film here). A lyrical drama about a relationship between a university student and a young freeter, "Door to the Sea" was Ohashi's graduating project from the Tokyo University of the Arts Film Program. The program, whose instructors include famed director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, has produced some of the most interesting work in Japan's independent scene. Ohashi was invited to present "Door to the Sea" to German audiences at the 11th annual Nippon Connection Japanese Film Festival this past spring in Frankfurt, where it was honoured with a Special mention Award from the Nippon Visions jury. We were very happy to get a chance to ask Ohashi our bi-weekly survey. CM


1. What movie inspired you to become a film-maker? What was it about the movie that was inspiring?

I think that my starting point is when I was 15 years old, I got this aggressive concept of transience from watching “Typhoon Club” by Shinji Somai and also I felt disturbed by a feeling of a swelling of the particles of the world from watching “August in the Water” by Sogo Ishii. And also I am always inspired by the eloquence of the silent films from 1920 to 1930, and the cruelty of Yasujiro Ozu films.


2.　Is there someone you always wanted to work with on a project, but have never had the chance?

Trent Reznor


3.　Please finish this statement : If I had not become a film-maker I would probably be a...

Taxi driver


4.　Which three people (besides film-makers) have had the biggest influence on you?

Moto Hagio (manga writer)
Beethoven
My uncle, who wanted to be a painter. He died young and never got the chance.


5.　Which is your favorite book? Why is it your favorite?

The Bible because it has everything that we need to read: myth, poetry, tragedy, violence, etc.


6. What moment in your career has made you most proud so far?

When an unexpected thing happens in front of camera.


Translation by Chikako Hirao Evans/ Photography by Nicholas Vroman

Six Questions for... Sakichi Sato

If you watch a lot of films from Japan from the past decade the face pictured above will be a very familiar one to you. He's starred in such films as Takashi Miike's "Ichi the Killer " and "Gozu", Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Bright Future", Tetsuya Nakashima's "Memories of Matsuko" and even international hits like Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill, Vol. 1" and Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's "Last Life in the Universe. Just saying that Sakichi Sato is a character actor doesn't do him justice though. The 40-year-old Osaka native didn't just star in "Ichi the Killer" and "Gozu", he wrote the screenplays for each film. He didn't just co-star with Tadanobu Asano and Sho Aikawa on the big screen, he also directed them in his own films, namely 2005's horror comedy "Tokyo Zombie" and 2010's "Yoshimi Yoshida the Insect Detective". Sato has also starred in the lead of his own screen adaptation of George Asakura's tongue-in-cheek sex comedy "Heibon Punch". While working on his latest directorial effort, "Hanbun Shojo to Zero Otoko", a comedy about a man who can see number son people's heads when he massages his genitals, Sakichi Sato took a few minutes to answer our Six Questions for... survey. CM


1. What movie inspired you to become a film-maker? What was it about the movie that was inspiring?

“Blue Velvet” by David Lynch. It is hard to say which part but if I have to choose, the nightmarish humor throughout the film.

2. Is there someone you always wanted to work with on a project, but have never had the chance?

Directors David Lynch and M. Night Shyamalan, but as a screen writer.


3. Please finish this statement: If I had not become a film-maker I would probably be a ________.

School teacher or comedian.

4. Which three people (besides film-makers) have had the biggest influence on you?

Kazuyoshi Torii (manga writer, famous for the manga “Toilet Doctor”).
Takeshi "Beat" Kitano as a comedian.
Fukui-san, my schoolmate from junior high.


5. What is your favorite book? Why is it your favorite?

“Shachnovelle” by Stefan Zweig. It has everything that I would like to express.


6. What moment in your career has made you most proud so far?

I have not had it yet.


Translation by Chikako Hirao Evans

Follow Sakichi Sato on Twitter here.

Six Questions for... Kenji Murakami

Director Kenji Murakami has been a fixture of Japan's indie film scene for over 16 years. Born in Takasaki City, Gunma Prefecture in 1970, Murakami studied first at Senshu University Department of Art and then went on to study and work at Tokyo's hugely influential Image Forum School. His 1995 debut film "Bye Bye Primary" won the top prize at that year's Image Forum Festival, and since then Murakami has created and idiosyncratic and fascinating body of work. Best described as documentary films Murakami's work has charted the societal and sexual landscape of modern Japan with films like 1999's "Tel Club" about the world of telephone clubs where men chat with teen girls, 2003's "How I Survive in Kawaguchi City" which chronicles life in suburban Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, 2009's "The Love Hotel Collection" which captured the surreal interiors of love hotels, and "Love Doll I Wanna Hold You!" which takes a loving and disturbing look at the phenomena of more-ear-than-real love dolls. Often Murakami is the subject of his films, like with his exploration of 8mm film and infidelity "Fujica Single Date". He has also turned his camera on to some of the most iconoclastic filmmakers working in Japan today, namely Fumiki Watanabe and Kenji Onishi. Murakami most recently appeared in his friend Kyuya Nakagawa's film "Coming Future" about Tokyo's jishu eiga, or "indie movie" scene. CM


1. What movie inspired you to become a film-maker? What was it about the movie that was inspiring?

“Robinson’s Garden” by Masahi Yamamoto (1987). I was introduced to a noble place, those ruins. A way to dream while awake. "Landscape Suicide” by James Benning (1986). I learned that just scenery can make a film. “Toki ga fubuku” by Katsu Kanai (1991). I learned, more than anything else, the importance of the filmmaker. And freedom.


2. Is there someone you always wanted to work with on a project, but have never had the chance?

Hikari Mitsushima.


3. Please finish this statement: If I had not become a film-maker I would probably be a ________.

Prisoner.


4. Which three people (besides film-makers) have had the biggest influence on you?

Comedian Tamori, Masato Matsuno, the founder of Gansokokusaihihoukan, an erotic theme park in Ise and love hotel designer Shin Amii.


5. What is your favorite book? Why is it your favorite?

“Waraugingakei” by Katsu Kanai and “The world of Yasuzou Masumura, movie director” by Yasuzou Masumura because the words of film people who I respect always propel me forward. “Love hotel, Satellite of LOVE” by Kyoichi Tsuzuki. This is a record of the art that Japan should be most proud of. Simply looking at it makes me feel like I am in heaven.


6. What moment in your career has made you most proud so far?

The moment when I shot the last scene of “Natsuni umareru (Tel Club)”.


Translation by Chikako Hirao Evans/ Photo by Nicholas Vroman

Check out Kenji Murakami's official blog here and follow him on Twitter here.

Six Questions for... Masahiro Kobayashi

Masahiro Kobayashi (born in Tokyo in 1954) is one of the most successful Japanese filmmakers on the international festival circuit. His film "The Rebirth", which follows the lives of two people shattered by the murder of a school girl, took home three awards at the 2007 Locarno Film Festival -- a C.I.C.A.E. Award - Special Mention, a Youth Jury Award - Special Mention and most importantly the Locarno's top prize, The Golden Leopard. His best known film in North America, "Bashing", the portrait of a shunned foreign aid worker returning to Japan after being held hostage in Iraq, was entered into competition at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival and would win the Grand Prix at that year's Tokyo Filmex. Before the accolades and awards though Kobayashi was a singer-songwriter who parlayed his writing talents into penning screenplays for television and pink films. 1996 would see him release his directorial debut, "Closing Time", and in the years that followed he would work with such well known talents as Akira Emoto (Kaizokuban Bootleg Film) and Ken Ogata (Man Walking on Snow). Most recently Kobayashi directed legendary actor Tatsuya Nakadai in the road movie drama "Haru's Journey". We were honoured to have such an esteemed filmmaker as Masahiro Kobayashi participate in our ongoing "Six Questions for..." director's survey. CM


1. What movie inspired you to become a film-maker? What was it about the movie that was inspiring?

François Truffaut’s films, especially “Breathless” [written by Truffaut and directed by Jean-Luc Goddard]. The script, the acting… some of the shots and performances are miraculous.


2. Is there someone you always wanted to work with on a project, but have never had the chance?

Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, Jack Nicholson and director Cédric Kahn.


3. Please finish this statement: If I had not become a film-maker I would probably be a ________.
A clownish, small-time con man.


4. Which three people (besides film-makers) have had the biggest influence on you?

My father, mother and film critic Koichi Yamada.


5. What is your favorite book? Why is it your favorite?

My favorite as a teenager was “The Wayfarer (Kojin)” by Soseki Natsume. As an older man, it’s “Islands in the Stream” by Ernest Hemingway.


6. What moment in your career has made you most proud so far?

I have not had one yet.


Translation by Chikako Hirao Evans


Check out Masahiro Kobayashi's official blog here

Six Questions for... Yoshihiko Matsui

The world of independent film-making in Japan has produced some remarkable artists -- Hiroshi Teshigahara, Susumu Hani, Shuji Terayama and Shinya Tsukamoto to name only a few. These directors created works that have both captivated and provoked audiences, but the work of one independent film-maker has set a high watermark for both innovation and in some cases outrage. That is Yoshihiko Matsui. Born in 1956 in Nishinomiya, Hyogo, Matsui began his career working with fellow indie film-maker Sogo Ishii in the late 70's on Ishii's debut feature film "Crazy Thunder Road". Around the same time Matsui was making his own debut film, 1979's "Rusty Empty Can", a work inspired in part by Matsui's artistic icon, Shuji Terayama. This was followed up in 1981 by "Pig-Chicken Suicide", a film that combined the story of two young Koreans in Japan with images of animal slaughter and sexuality. Matsui would continue to confront audiences with his next film, 1988's 3-hour surreal masterpiece "The Noisy Requiem". Even though its lead character, a serial killer who gouges out women's genitalia and deposits them into his wooden mannequin girlfriend, caused a firestorm of controversy the film would go on to pack Tokyo's Nakano Musashino Hall Theatre during its first theatrical run. The success (or infamy) of "The Noisy Requiem" didn't see Matsui rushing to make a follow-up though. Matsui would take a 20-year break from directing before bringing the world "Where Are We Going?" (2008), a road movie/ love story involving a murderer and a transsexual. It's obvious that this two decade break had not in any way softened this indie auteur. CM


1. What movie inspired you to become a film-maker? What was it about the movie that was inspiring?

There are two movies and directors who inspired me a lot. Shuji Terayama is the director who made made me make up my mind to enter the movie world. The poetic world in Terayama's "Pastoral: To Die in the Country (Den-en ni shisu)" was wonderful. I was 18-years-old in those days, I watched this artistic movie for the first time and it made a huge impression. Also Federico Fellini's "Satyricon". He let the poetic world and the artistic world fuse. It was a very wonderful movie. I had a feeling of respect towards Fellini for creating it. After I first saw it I forgot to stand up from my seat because it was too much of an impression for a while. I was floating in tears. Of course there are many splendid movies in the world, but Terayama and Fellini are the movie directors who I can never forget it in my movie life.


2. Is there someone you always wanted to work with on a project, but have never had the chance?

Ryuichi Sakamoto, Vittorio Straro, Masahiro Motoki, Rinko Kikuchi, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Natalie Portman, Willem Dafoe, and many more people.


3. Please finish this statement: If I had not become a film-maker I would probably be a ________.

A farmer or a painter.


4. Which three people (besides film-makers) have had the biggest influence on you?

It's a very difficult question for me, but... Leonardo da Vinci, Paul Cezanne, Peter Tchaikovsky.


5.What is your favorite book? Why is it your favorite?

This is another difficult question. I cannot answer. I'm sorry.


6. What moment in your career has made you most proud so far?

It was when my movie “Where Are We Going?” was shown at the Moscow International Film Festival in 2008. This was because of a director whom I love and respect -- Akira Kurosawa. Kurosawa had a period where he was unable to make a movie. At that time, Russia (the Soviet Union) asked him to make a movie. That movie, “Dersu Uzala” won the grand prix at the Moscow International Film Festival, and then my movie was projected on the same screen that showed ["Dersu Uzala"]. This was a very nice thing for me and was very memorable. Furthermore, it was impressive to me that I gave a speech there. Of course there were a lot of wonderful things for me, but it's this that I remember immediately.


Translation By Chikako Evans

Check out Yoshihiko Matsui official website here.

Six Questions for... Toshiaki Toyoda

Of the wave of new film-makers that came out of Japan in the late 90's and early 00's one stands head and shoulders above the rest -- Toshiaki Toyoda. While the work of the 42-year-old director may superficially reflect the violence and cool of so many of his film-making peers of the last decade a closer viewing reveals layers of humour, dark beauty and keen human insight. And then there's his masterful use of music. It was actually a desire to pursue music that brought Toyoda, a former chess prodigy, from Osaka to Tokyo but it was an encounter with director Junji Sakamoto that turned his attention to film-making. Toyoda quickly made his mark with films like 1998's "Pornostar", a.k.a. "Tokyo Rampage", the boxing documentary "Unchain", and an adaptation of Taiyo Matsumoto's manga "Blue Spring". 2003's prison break saga "9 Souls" and 2005's grim domestic drama "Hanging Garden" revealed a more mature Toyoda, one ready to stand alongside the likes of such major film-making talent as Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Hirokazu Koreeda; but a 2005 drug conviction nearly derailed his promising career. Thankfully Toyoda returned to directing with 2009's "Blood of Rebirth", a resurrection both on screen and off. CM


1. What movie inspired you to become a film-maker? What was it about the movie that was inspiring?

“Dotsuitarunen (Knockout)” by Junji Sakamoto. It's his passion.


2. Is there someone you always wanted to work with on a project, but have never had the chance?

Ken Takakura and Edward Norton (He is good at Japanese).


3. Please finish this statement: If I had not become a film-maker I would probably be a ________.

Super rich guy.


4. Which three people (besides film-makers) have had the biggest influence on you?

The Unabomber, Jiddu Krishnamurti, and Prince.


5. What is your favorite book? Why is it your favorite?

In Japanese literature, “Dokurohai” by Mitsuharu Kaneko. I read it recently and felt like it’s about me. In English, “Franny and Zooey” by JD Salinger. It is very beautiful.


6. What moment in your career has made you most proud so far?

When I catch that special moment during filming, you know?


Translation by Chikako Evans

Follow Toshiaki Toyoda on Twitter here.

Six Questions for ... Gakuryu (Sogo) Ishii

The J-Film Pow-Wow is very proud to start a new monthly feature (posted the first week of each month) which we are calling Six Questions for... Based on the concept of the Proust Questionnaire featured monthly in Vanity Fair Magazine, Six Questions for... will ask a half dozen questions to both established film-makers and to young up-and-coming directors. Keep checking back for upcoming installments to this exciting new component of the J-Film Pow-Wow.

Marauding bikers, punk rock mutants, and electric charged warfare! It was with this army of near-future barbarians that one man conquered Japanese film in the 1980's. His name -- Sogo Ishii. Born in Fukuoka City in 1957 Ishii took his passion for Japan's late 70's burgeoning punk rock scene and committed it to film in such cult classics as "Panic High School", "Crazy Thunder Road", "Burst City" and "The Crazy Family". Midnight Eye's Tom Mes called 1982's "Burst City" a ".... raucous explosion of celluloid artistry," but Ishii wouldn't limit his creativity to just these dystopian visions. Since the beginning of the 1990's his output has ranged from concert films (Einstürzende Neubauten's Halber Mensch), moody police thrillers (Angel Dust) and experimental superhero battles (Electric Dragon 80,000V). Most recently Ishii has been a faculty member in the Department of Media Arts at the Kobe Design University; plus he has undergone a name change. At the beginning of 2010 Ishii announced on his official blog that he would take the name Gakuryu Ishii as part of an artistic rebirth in which he would "work actively as a rookie." CM


1. What movie inspired you to become a film-maker? What was it about the movie that was inspiring?

I don't clearly remember, but the last scene of "Wild Bunch" directed by Sam Pekinpah, that is not only cool but also a violent montage, and also "Easy Rider" by Dennis Hopper. I also may be influenced by Japanese "chanbara" movies and the narrative language of Kinji Fukasaku. When I first shot film, I had not watched any of the French New Wave and other precious films that would influence me strongly.

2. Is there someone you always wanted to work with on a project, but have never had the chance?

Yes, there are many actors, actresses and staff including overseas ones.

3. Please finish this statement: If I had not become a film-maker I would probably be a...

Dead man.

4. Which three people (besides film-makers) have had the biggest influence on you?

Jimi Hendrix, Philip K. Dick, and Thelonious Monk. [After our initial post Ishii contacted us to say he forgot one of his most important influences, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker Katsushika Hokusai.]

5. What is your favorite book? Why is it your favorite?

"Como se Cuenta un Cuento" by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez. It is very interesting and valuable.

6. What moment in your career has made you most happy/ proud so far?

I am not sure. Maybe I have not had one yet.


Translation by Chikako Evans

Check out Gakuryu (Sogo) Ishii's blog and official website.