"Search" Director Shinzo Katayama: Film techniques that immerse you in the story without relying on words [Director's Interview Vol.175]

An endless desire to create

Q: Terumi Yamauchi, played by Hiroya Shimizu, appears from the smoke, and that scene was so cool it gave me goosebumps. It gave me goosebumps.

Katayama: Actually, that scene wasn't in the script, but I thought of it while we were scouting locations. At the beginning of " Taxi Driver " (1976), a taxi emerges from the smoke. That's the image I had in my mind.

A former member of the Special Machinery Department had a homemade machine that produced special smoke that didn't disappear easily, and they used it to produce smoke well, but it was difficult to control because it was affected by the wind. Even so, everyone worked hard and I think we were able to capture a very rich scene.

“Search” ©2022 “Search” Production Committee

Q: You previously said that you wanted your second film to be worthy of D. Fincher's "Seven" and M. Scorsese's "Taxi Driver," and I think "Searching" is right up there with that level. What are your thoughts on it?

Katayama: There are some things I regret, like "I should have done a little better," but I think we did a good job within the limited budget and time. I think if I was completely satisfied, I wouldn't feel like making another one, but I still have a creative drive inside me, so in that sense I guess I still have a long way to go.

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Director/Screenplay: Shinzo Katayama

Born February 7, 1981, in Osaka Prefecture. After The Graduate from the film school run by director Genji Nakamura, he participated as an assistant director in such works as "TOKYO!" (2008/omnibus film, Bong Joon-ho's part), "Boys Over Flowers: The Final Chapter" (2008/directed by Yasuharu Ishii), "Mother" (2009/directed by Bong Joon-ho), "Yamagata Scream" (2009/directed by Naoto Takenaka), "My Back Pages" (2011/directed by Nobuhiro Yamashita), "Train of Hard Work" (2012/directed by Nobuhiro Yamashita), "Yokohama Story" (2013/directed by Ichiro Kita), "Ajiuma Universe" (2015/directed by Nobuhiro Yamashita), and "Hana-chan's Miso Soup" (2015/directed by Tomoaki Akune). He made his debut as a feature film director with "The Brothers and Sisters of the Cape" (2018), which he produced at his own expense, and took the film world by storm. The film was released in more than 50 cinemas nationwide, expanding from six in six cinemas. It won the 2018 SKIP CITY International D-Cinema Festival's Best Film and Audience Award in the Domestic Competition Feature Film Division, the 41st Yokohama Film Festival's Best New Director Award, and the 29th Japan Film Critics Award's Best New Director Award. His other directorial works include "The Man Who Was There" (20) and "Wandering Blade" (21/WOWOW). This is his commercial film debut and his second feature film as a director.

Interview and text: Fumio Koda

Editorial staff and writer for CINEMORE. My favorite movies are ``The Goonies'' and ``Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.'' My recent favorites are 4K digitally remastered classics by Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu.

Photography: Kazunari Aoki

"Search"

January 21 (Fri) Theater Shinjuku and other locations

Distribution: Asmik Ace

©2022 “Search” Production Committee