"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

A momentary expression captured by the camera

From August 28th, the last day of the first week of filming, Beat Takeshi and Ryuichi Sakamoto will be participating. First, scene 26, ``Gates of the camp,'' was filmed, followed by scene 25, at Hara's quarters, where the conversation between Sergeant Hara, played by Takeshi, and Lawrence (Tom Conti) was filmed. It was decided that one cut would be approximately three minutes long, and after repeated and detailed tests, it was approved after two actual shots. A few hours after stepping off the plane, Takeshi had become the face of a military man who had served in this camp for a long time, and was openly competing with Tom Conti.

On the 30th, a title shot was taken of the soldiers walking across the parade ground from the officers' quarters to the headquarters. A 30-meter rail was laid for a long shot of Hara walking in front and Lawrence and others following behind, and the camera followed Hara and his friends while panning along with a smooth horizontal movement. It's an impressive cut that reveals the whole story of the grand camp, but in the actual scene, the gate to the camp doesn't close, and when the staff tells Oshima to wait for the actual scene, he says, "You can't wait for something like that, just leave it open!" A roar rang out. Above all, Oshima sought the tension of the moment, so he sometimes intentionally ignored the formalities and conventions of normal filmmaking.

“Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” ©Oshima Nagisa Productions

Later, in the scene where Yonoi, played by Sakamoto, appears for the first time at the execution site in Scene 4, he is supposed to appear on a white horse, but when the horse gets upset by the lighting and doesn't move as expected, Oshima ``I don't need a horse!'' he said, immediately ordering him to appear on foot. Narushima did not pay attention to the connection with the previous cut, and prioritized powerful images in each moment, which caused many scenes that confused the foreign staff, but ``Sen Meri'' was not only beautiful in its visuals, but also , it may have been the collaboration between Oshima and Narushima that resulted in a film that perfectly captures the momentary expressions of the individual performers.

On this day, the scene in which Hara wakes Lawrence up and takes him to the officer's quarters in scene 1, which Beat Takeshi used as a joke later on, was also filmed. The camera moves in time with the movement of the lizard, which is the first shot that marks the beginning of the film, and then, at the perfect moment, a door opens and Hara enters. The OK was finally given on the 8th take because the lizard was not moving as expected, but Oshima, who prioritized the tension on set, seemed to have decided to wait for the lizard. However, it was worth it, as it became a memorable opening to a majestic film.

From that day onwards, the schedule was disrupted by the rain, and even though we had to change plans, we shot Takeshi's appearance at a rapid pace. Occasionally, quick shots were taken, such as cutting out the middle, taking fragmentary shots from one direction, then turning the camera to the other side and taking only the necessary parts, but for Oshima, who grew up in a photo studio, It was an ordinary piece of craftsmanship.

"Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence"