His first full-length novel, which traces the memories of one Japanese woman's summer, has been made into a film.
He gave this interview in May of this year during the 78th Cannes Film Festival. His first full-length novel, "Distant Mountain Light," published in 1982, was adapted into a film by director Kei Ishikawa and screened in the "Un Certain Regard" section.
"I had a strange feeling because the film was not only close to my novel, but also close to my childhood memories. Director Kei did an excellent job, beautifully recreating the past. I thought it was a very beautiful film."
Born in Nagasaki in 1954 and moving to the UK at the age of five, he set his debut film primarily in Nagasaki in the 1950s, where he spent his childhood, and says the film vividly recreates his childhood memories of the city.
Generally speaking, it's difficult to adapt a novel into a film of around two hours. "I have a screenwriting background, so I understand how difficult it is," he says.
"But Kei was also an excellent screenwriter. The actors' performances were also powerful. Fumi Nikaido in particular conveys the film's theme of having suffered tragedy in the past but then courageously recovering from it. The world is unstable, and cruel events can occur that are beyond our control. But I think the film succeeds in strongly conveying the message that we still need to have hope and move forward."
This film traces the memories of protagonist Etsuko, who experienced the atomic bomb in Nagasaki and eventually moved to the UK, moving back and forth between Nagasaki in the 1950s and the UK in the 1980s. Through Etsuko's interactions with the mysterious woman Sachiko, whom she meets in Nagasaki, we see the image of independent women striving to achieve freedom.
"When I was writing this novel, the second-wave feminist movement was in full swing, and my girlfriend at the time, who would later become my wife, was also involved in the movement. I think that influenced the film. Women's independence is still an important theme even now, 80 years after the end of the war, but Japanese films have a long tradition of dealing with it. Both Mikio Naruse and Mizoguchi Kenji made many films that focused on women. I was also influenced by Japanese films from the 1950s when I was writing this novel."
This influence can also be seen in the scene where Etsuko and her father-in-law, who has come to visit from Fukuoka, share a heartfelt bond. When it comes to films about the development of a close relationship between a father-in-law and daughter-in-law, Yasujiro Ozu 's classic "Tokyo Story" immediately comes to mind.
"Ozu's films are like that, of course, and Naruse's 'The Sound of the Mountains' is almost entirely about that relationship. Japanese films from the 1950s often dealt with the relationship between stepfathers and daughters. When I was writing this work, I was also conscious of Junichiro Tanizaki 's novels. In the past, it was common for three generations to live together in Japan, so I think the relationship between father and son and his wife was a common motif. Something like a friendship was born, and in some cases it could complicate the relationship between the couple."
In this work, the story progresses as Etsuko in the 1980s recounts her memories of one summer to her daughter. However, the daughter gradually realizes that the story Etsuko is telling may actually contain a lie. "There's something that has always interested me," he says.
"It's about comparing the memory of one person with the memory of society. How is one person's personal memory conveyed to the people they care about? And how is society's memory, or history, passed on to the next generation? This is my debut work, so I hadn't fully solidified my ideas yet, but I wanted to make these comparisons. Personal memory can sometimes be unreliable. In the same way, societal memory can be unreliable either. For example, societal memories that no one wants to talk about, especially painful memories related to war, can sometimes be distorted. With this work, I wanted to consider how such memories are passed on to the next generation."
Directed by Ishikawa Kei / Starring Hirose Suzu, Fumi Nikaido / 1980s England. At the request of her daughter, who aspires to be a writer, Etsuko begins to recount her memories of a woman named Sachiko, whom she met in postwar Nagasaki, and her daughter... Directed by Ishikawa Kei, known for "A Man." Released nationwide on September 5th at TOHO Cinemas Hibiya and other theaters.
