"Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" Nagisa Oshima x David Bowie x Beat Takeshi x Ryuichi Sakamoto The path to the realization of a unique war movie Part 1

*The second part isherefrom

※Part 2 isherefrom

"Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" synopsis

In 1942, a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp on the island of Java during the war. There were the rough sergeant Hara, the British Lieutenant Colonel Lawrence who was fluent in Japanese, and the camp commander, Captain Yonoi. One day, British Army Major Celiaz is brought in, and Yonoi is fascinated by him, even though he is annoyed by his rebellious attitude.

Every Christmas, I hear " Merry Christmas Mr.Lawrence ". It was composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto for the well-known director Nagisa Oshima's masterpiece, ``Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.'' Set in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in Java, David Bowie and David Bowie portray prisoners of war, who do not turn their eyes away from the existence of the enemy, which Japanese war films have avoided until now, such as mistreatment of prisoners, but who are connected through deep friendship. This dry work features a unique cast of Ryuichi Sakamoto and Beat Takeshi. More than 38 years have passed since its release, and it still enjoys strong popularity, and in 2021, the 4K restored version of ``Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence' ' was released, and it is still fresh in our minds that it became an unexpected hit.

However, before this film was born, the longest gap of five years had occurred since Oshima's directorial debut. At that time, Oshima, who was constantly appearing on TV, was ridiculed, saying, "Isn't there time to make movies?" Before it could be realized, there were many times when the production was in danger of being stopped, and in the midst of many troubles, it finally arrived at completion. By following the trajectory of those five years, we will be able to see the answer to what Nagisa Oshima is trying to draw in this work and why "Senmeri" continues to shine without getting old. This article will be delivered in three parts: the first part, the second part, and the second part.

"Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" preview

Index

• Cannes Film Festival Director's Award "Ghost of Love" Next Film!?
• Prehistory of "Senmeri": Struggling with Commercial Films
• Night and Fog Surrounding the Fantastic Nagisa Oshima Film
• Twists and turns until the screenplay is completed
• The phantom Oshima work inherited to "Senmeri"
• A revelation to the film adaptation brought about by "In the Hell of Shadows"
• Revision from the original, overlapping revisions
• Robert Redford and Ken Takakura, fantastic casting
• David Bowie, the Man Who Fell in War Merry

Cannes Film Festival Director's Award "Ghost of Love" next work!?

``Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence'', released on May 28, 1983, was Nagisa Oshima's first new work in five years since her previous work `` Ghost of Love '' (1978). In the 1960s, Oshima sometimes made three films a year, but in the 1970s he slowed down to one film every two to three years, but ``Ghost of Love'' won the Director's Award at the Cannes Film Festival. He has become a world-famous director in both name and reality, and his next work has been attracting attention. Oshima, who returned home in triumph from the Cannes Film Festival, was asked at a press conference what his next film would be, and he answered, ``I want to either make a purely Japanese film, or do it in a foreign country, using all foreign actors.'' (Nikkan Sports, 1978, 6) 7th of the month).

A few years ago, Oshima had a draft plan for his next film. One is " Wagako Christ " by Taijun Takeda. Although it is a unique work with a unique interpretation that the father of Christ is a Roman soldier, Oshima has also obtained permission from Takeda to make it into a movie, saying, "I will make it as a super-luxury, super-production, great entertainment movie. (“Bungei” December 1976 issue), I once told Taijun’s wife, Yuriko Takeda. So, it is not a project that can be realized so easily.

The other is a project with Shintaro Katsu. On April 17, 1977, "Sports Nippon" commented on Katsu's future movie production, "I have been discussing with director Nagisa Oshima repeatedly that I would like to make a gangster movie, and in the fall I would like to appear on the screen for the first time in a long time." reported. In addition to this, projects such as "Karayuki-san" and "Oniguma" that had been about to be made into movies since the mid-70s were also pending, but these became "Ai no Corrida" and "Ai no Ghost" respectively. It has been sublimated, and there was also a feeling that it was too late.

However, in 1979, Oshima suddenly announced that he would shoot a ``genuinely Japanese movie''--not a project he had been planning until now, but a completely new autumn blockbuster for Toei, `` Japan's Fixer' '. After the realization line, Toei produced a series of epic yakuza films such as the " Nihon no Bosho " series (1977-78) and " Nihon no Jingi" (1977). In addition, it is a story in which a fixer and a boy terrorist act behind the scenes. For Oshima, who has continued to produce works with a similar tendency to the theme of sex, this may seem like an unexpected project, but perhaps he also wanted to change his style completely.

Prehistory of "Senmeri": Struggling with Commercial Films