"Backlight" Director Ren Sudo A world that is too divided and its sense of crisis [Director's Interview Vol.127]

``Backlight'' may be Fumie's movie.

Q: Personally, Eriko Toyama, who played Fumie, left a strong impression on me.

Sudo: That makes me happy.

Q: This movie feels like it has some fantasy elements, but I felt like Fumie grounded it and brought it back to reality.

Sudo: In terms of the balance of this movie, I think that what I created as the director was the fantastical parts, and Mr. Watanabe was in charge of the parts that were grounded. That's why Fumie's presence is synonymous with Watanabe's presence in this movie.

In that sense, the big challenge this time was figuring out how to photograph Eriko Toyama in an attractive way. The fact that Mr. Toyama is praised is probably proof that the movie is going well, and it means that working with Mr. Watanabe was meaningful. According to the impressions of those who have seen it, Mr. Toyama is popular.

Q: I guess there are many people who feel that way.

Sudo: I can think of ways to make Akira, Yoshioka, and Miko look attractive, but I probably wouldn't have thought of putting Fumie there. But that was important to keep this movie from falling apart easily, and that was also a big part of what I wanted from Mr. Watanabe. In fact, ``Backlight'' may be Fumie's film.

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Q: In a certain sense, that may be true.

Sudo: What I wanted to do this time was to provide an opportunity for an actor like Eriko Toyama, who does a great job, to show off her charm, rather than just consuming her as a third act. And I couldn't have done it alone. One of the things that was difficult for me was photographing Mr. Toyama. That's why I'm really happy that Toyama-san is being praised.

Q: The added angel care scene is also very good, and as you said, I feel that having Fumie in it makes ``Reverse Light'' a movie.

Sudo: Actually, I originally wanted to make this movie with Mr. Toyama in the lead role. After some twists and turns, Fumie was sidelined in the story, but in my mind Fumie remained the main character, so maybe that's why it worked out so well.

Fumie is someone who can see everything, including the ambiguous relationship between Akira, Yoshioka, and Miko. Even though he lives a simple life in the countryside and has little information, he still knows a lot more. She is someone who can see the world from a deeper perspective. Maybe it's a perspective rooted in daily life, but I thought it would be great if I could capture something like the beauty of people who have that kind of thing.

However, you can't get too caught up in "beauty," and in that sense, the angel care scenes were especially difficult. The success of this film depended on how deep a sense of reality could be achieved in beautiful visuals that tend to lack reality, and Mr. Watanabe had advised me on this as well.

I went to the scene trying to take pictures carefully, and I think it turned out well. Up until that point, everyone had been excited and excited, but when we shot that scene, there was just the right amount of tension, and it was as if we were at a standstill. I felt a strong sense of sadness and the gravity of the scene.

In that scene, Fumie was crying, but she asked Mr. Toyama not to cry. I thought that if the person mentioned above was someone who ``sees the world from a deeper perspective,'' she wouldn't cry. However, the power of that "place" was so strong that tears naturally flowed. But that was exactly the moment when the play exceeded my expectations. The scene I was able to capture was different from what I had imagined, but it turned out to be one of my favorite scenes.

An indivisible “world”