Thinking back to ``River's Edge'', the deep relationship between genius manga artist Kyoko Okazaki and movies

What is the American movie of the same name that influenced "River's Edge"?

And in terms of its connection to movies, we can't forget the work that seems to be the basis for none other than ``River's Edge''. It's the 1986 American film `` RIVER'S EDGE, '' directed by Tim Hunter, with the exact same name (although the Japanese title is written with an ``s'' as ``RIVER'S EDGE''). This is a cult crime suspense work starring Keanu Reeves in his early days as one of the young men, and Dennis Hopper as a mysterious man.

The corpse of a girl is found in a rural town where a river flows. Okazaki may have seen the prototype for the image of a ``flat battlefield'' in the story of the lonely high school students involved in this murder case. Although this is a movie from the 1980s, the emptiness and brutality that prevails here is an early embodiment of the sensibility and worldview that later became known as grunge, and from there it was accurately extended and transformed into a Japanese reality, resulting in an extremely long review. It can be said that Okazaki's ``River's Edge'' is loaded with a targeted (or predictive) range.

What is interesting is that Okazaki, who until then had continued to depict the human condition of the Tokyo metropolis, has set River's Edge in an anonymous suburb, partly influenced by the film of the same name. The model seems to be Harumi in Koto Ward, but the scenery depicted could also be seen in the industrial area of ​​Kawasaki, for example. In the field of film, director Shunji Iwai's `` All About Lily Chou Chou '' (2001 )right. Many people compared this movie (regardless of the creator's intentions) as another masterpiece that picked up the baton from ``River's Edge''.

“River's Edge” © 2018 “River's Edge” Production Committee/Kyoko Okazaki/Takarajimasha

I'm sure I'm not the only one who senses some kind of fateful cycle in this cultural-historical trend. This is because Isao Yukisada, who directed this movie version of ``River's Edge,'' was once Shunji Iwai's assistant director. Moreover, that period extends to `` April Story '' (1998), which is the previous work of ` `All About Lily Chou-Chu ''. This is the intersection of Iwai and Yukisada roads. After a while, Yukisada made his debut as a director and went on to build a brilliant career from the 1990s onwards.

When you think about it that way, the baton must have been handed over to the right place after a long period of time. ``River's Edge'' was finally made into a long-awaited movie in 2018.

Text: Naoto Mori

Film critic, writer. Born in Wakayama in 1971. He is the author of ``Cinema Garage: Children in the Ruins'' (Film Art Publishing), and edited ``Movies of the Zero Years+'' (Kawade Shobo Shinsha), among others. He regularly writes for magazines such as Weekly Bunshun, Asahi Shimbun, TV Bros., Men's Nonno, Kinema Junpo, Eiga Hiho, and Cinema Today.

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River's Edge

From Friday, February 16, 2018, TOHO Cinemas Shinjuku and other nationwide roadshows

Distribution: Kino Films

*Information as of February 2018 article publication.