"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 2

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"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.

Index

• The story of the beginning of the war on Rarotonga
• A lighting engineer who mysteriously disappears
• Shooting begins, lighting engineer missing
• A momentary expression captured by the camera
• "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence"
• Famous shots created by equipment accidents
• From Rarotonga to Auckland ~ Crank up
• “Sen Meri” Secret story after the war
• movies and labor
• "Sen Meri" Cannes Rhapsody

The story of the beginning of the war on Rarotonga

The Cook Islands, a group of 15 islands in free association with New Zealand, lie halfway between French Polynesia and American Samoa. Rarotonga, where the capital Avarua is located, is a volcanic island with a circumference of approximately 32 km, made up of jungle surrounding steep mountains and beautiful white beaches. Oshima left Japan on July 31st, met up with cinematographer Toichiro Narushima, who was checking filming equipment in Auckland, and arrived at Rarotonga on August 9th. I didn't set foot on the site until two weeks before filming began, and one of the characteristics of ``Sen Meri'' was that preparations for filming began in a hurry, even though it took a long time to make it happen.

What takes time and effort when filming overseas is transporting equipment and props from Japan. Filming equipment was sometimes rented from Australia and New Zealand, but unless the uniforms and equipment for the Japanese soldiers were sent in sufficient quantities from Japan, they would be stranded on set. Anticipating this, Oshima had summoned a talented assistant director from Kyoto. This is Takuto Nakahata, a former photographer at Daiei Kyoto Studio. He is a veteran assistant director who accurately prepared the costumes and props for `` Ghost of Love, '' which is set in the Meiji era, and they hope to bring that ability to bear in this film. Although Oshima worked at the Shochiku Ofuna Studio, he was well versed in independent filmmaking, and preferred to include inexperienced staff and actors, but this does not mean that he negates his professional presence; We also made sure to assign veterans to certain locations.

Rarotongan Hotel is the only hotel on Rarotonga Island. The hotel is a row of detached houses set against the backdrop of a dense jungle. All the staff and cast stayed here, and everyone, even the assistant class, was given a private room. As a result, many of the overseas staff and cast members brought their families along with them, and Oshima realized how different the filming system was from Japan.

Before long, the main cast members begin to arrive. The first person to arrive was Jack Thompson, who played the role of the POW leader, who came 10 days before filming. Next was Tom Conti who played Lawrence, and finally David Bowie. Oshima was secretly curious about the style Bowie would bring to the island. I thought that Bowie would arrive with a large number of attendants like a star, but instead he arrived with only one female assistant and only a small amount of luggage in his light clothes. From that day on, for about a week until the Japanese cast arrived, Bowie, Conti, Thompson, and Oshima met for an hour or two each day to discuss their roles and read the script together. In the evening, the staff and cast members gather at the hotel's poolside bar, talk indifferently, and then each of them disperses to have dinner with their partner for the day. In the face of this euphoria, Oshima made a decision.

The plan was to shut out all interviews at filming locations and hotels. With the exception of sensitive shoots like ``Ai no Corrida,'' Oshima has welcomed media interviews on his set ever since his debut. He spoke as much as he had time, and was also available for interviews. The same was true for ``Sen Meri,'' and journalists from Japan were initially expected to flock to the event in droves. Not only that, but one of the investors, TV Asahi, was to send a film crew to produce a special program.

However, " I don't need comic magazines! If Bowie and his friends were subjected to the heated media coverage of Japan in the 1980s, as depicted in ``1986,'' the elegant time spent at the hotel would surely be ruined. It was obvious that if Beat Takeshi and Ryuichi Sakamoto came, the coverage would become even more heated. Therefore, Oshima announced his complete refusal to be interviewed, with no exceptions. However, TV Asahi, which was planning to broadcast a special program before the movie's release, was forced to make the program without being able to film the making footage (this was later relaxed, and after Beat Takeshi's appearance ended, the special program and the (Photographs were taken for material).

A lighting engineer who mysteriously disappears