"Kagawa 1st Ward" Director Arata Oshima depicts the true picture of Japanese democracy in an entertaining masterpiece that surpasses his previous work [Director's Interview Vol.171]

My movie within 2 hours

Q: When director Oshima completed this film, he was concerned about the length of the film, which was two and a half hours long. But these days, it's not uncommon to see films that are four or five hours long, like those directed by Kazuo Hara and Frederick Wiseman. What do you think about the screening time?

Oshima: I'm impatient, so as a customer, I don't like it to take much longer than two hours. It's also quite close to the toilet. So it's like, ``Just give me a break'' and say 4 to 5 hours. I think it's fine if it's interesting, but I think that's rarely the case. But I think `` Happy Hour '' (15/317 minutes) directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi was good...

However, I wanted to make my film within two hours if possible. But this time, I felt that if we were to go into that much detail, the content of the work would be out of sync with what we had seen and heard on set.

Q: So you must have had a lot of trouble editing it?

Oshima: During the editing process, it took a little over three hours to complete, but it was difficult to finish. Then I showed it to the publicity people and theater managers for the first time, got their opinions, and let it rest for four or five days. From there, I thought, "Okay, let's do our best and cut another 20 minutes."

“Kagawa 1st Ward” © 2021 NETZGEN

Q: What was the final scene you cut?

Oshima: Yeah...like the scene where Kishiro Nakamura came to Shodoshima for two days and one night in the summer.

Q: The legendary Kishiro Nakamura. (*Author's note: Kishiro Nakamura of the Constitutional Democratic Party, who won 14 out of 14 constituencies in the House of Representatives election and was called the "undefeated man." He lost for the first time in the House of Representatives election in October 2021.)

Oshima: That was a pretty big deal for Mr. Ogawa, but I felt like we had no choice but to cut it. Kiyomi Tsujimoto also came to Takamatsu and gave a nice talk, but I ended up cutting her off.

Q: Mr. Edano must have come to Takamatsu to give a speech of support, but he doesn't appear in the movie.

Oshima: Mr. Edano, Mr. Katsuya Okada, and Mr. Noda also came. As for Takuya Hirai, Mr. Aso and Mr. Amari also came, but all of them were cut.

Q: Thanks to that, I feel like the campaigners who support Junya Ogawa have been brought into closer focus. Did some of the campaign members join after watching ``Why You?''?

Oshima: Yes, there was. Many people came to know about Ogawa through the movie and wanted to support him. It was really hot.

Did “Why You” have an impact on the election?