"PiCNiC" People on the borderline challenged by Shunji Iwai x Tadanobu Asano x CHARA [That's when the movie was born Vol.1]

What did the Aum Incident and Eirin bring to film?

Initially, `` undo '' and ``PiCNiC'' were scheduled to be released as a two-part video package, and prior to that, `` undo '' was to be screened for a limited period of one week at Cine Switch Ginza from October 7, 1994. Although it was released as a late show with almost no publicity, it attracted attention as it attracted a total of 2,018 people. This was Iwai's first film to be released in theaters, and this sudden screening was also due to his application for a film subsidy from the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Currently, the application conditions for support for young and emerging filmmakers include: ``Dramas with a running time of 1 hour or more that have been shown for a fee for at least 1 week at movie theaters or halls (including paid screenings at film festivals) in the past. Movies are the target. In order to meet the requirements for applying for a grant, Yoo sent `` Undo '' to theaters, but unexpectedly it was flooded with viewers, and there was talk of an official release in theaters the following year. However, the grant was rejected, although it was not a compensation for the happy encounter with the audience.

Five months later, on March 25, 1995, Iwai's first full-length feature film, Love Letter , was released at Cine Switch Ginza. A far larger audience than `` Undo '' gathered around the theater, wondering if people would come at a time like this. ``At such a time'' is because the sarin gas attack on the subway had occurred five days earlier. The nearest station, Ginza Station, also runs parallel to the Marunouchi Line and Hibiya Line, both of which were at the center of the sarin attack. Downtown Tokyo and movie theaters were deserted as the city was on high alert, but Cine Switch Ginza was packed with spectators.

“Love letter” preview

Iwai's second feature film, `` Swallowtail Butterfly ,'' had already been scheduled for release the following year, and he was attracting attention as a core member of the next generation of directors, along with Hirokazu Kore-eda, who made his debut as a film director that year. Perhaps because of this, the original video release was postponed, and a two-part theatrical release of `` undo '' and ``PiCNiC'' was decided. It has been promoted from an original video to a movie, but for Iwai's work, which was originally shot on film and has been shot like a movie since the days of TV dramas, it is more like a promotion than a promotion. Can I say it? However, the release of ``PiCNiC'' was blocked in an unexpected way.

The year 1995, which marked the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, saw numerous incidents and terrorist attacks by Aum Shinrikyo, starting with the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and the sarin gas attack on the subway. The film ethics management committee, or so-called Eirin, is affected by such social conditions. Nowadays, some theaters may screen films that have not passed the Eirin screening process, but the majority of theaters that have joined the Zenkoren (National Federation of Entertainment and Public Health Industry Associations) do not screen films that have not passed the Eirin screening process. It has been agreed that it will not be screened. In other words, Eirin screening became indispensable if a wide range of screenings were to be considered, and at this time, it was natural for all theatrical releases to be screened by Eirin, regardless of their size.

Regarding ``PiCNiC,'' Eirin said, ``The scene in which a doctor forcibly injects a patient and the scene in which a nurse rapes a male patient who is unable to move could lead to misunderstandings about mental hospitals, so we requested that they be revised. (July 11, 1996 issue of Weekly Shincho). In ``8-Drugs, violence and cruelty'' of the ``Movie Ethics Code'' established by Eirin, it is stated that ``(2) Be careful about expressions such as illegal injections, medication, and artificial abortion.Also, even if they are legal, be careful when handling them. On the surface, it appears to be a request for modification in accordance with regulations, but Iwai says, ``Isn't it a sedative that is used to forcibly inject patients because they're going to get violent in the first place?It's just like Tatemae says that medical institutions don't do that. I couldn't help but feel that way.'' (`` Trash Basket Theater '' Shunji Iwai, author, Media Factory, Kadokawa Bunko) He does not hide his dissatisfaction.

In the first place, there is a high possibility that this ``revision request'' had a different meaning. Until then, Eirin had been paying close attention to sexual expressions, but from 1995 onwards, he began to pay close attention to violence and drug expressions. The Aum Incident was indeed caused by ``violence and drugs,'' and from this year to the following year, depictions of violence and drugs in Japanese films came under strict scrutiny.

For example, `` Shabu Yokudo '' (1996) was designated as an adult film by Eirin, stating that ``the way it depicts drugs and violence is problematic'' (Yomiuri Shimbun / Evening Edition, May 18, 1996), and when it was released on video, it was classified as an adult film. (Japan Video Ethics Association) criticized the use of the slang word ``shabu'' in the title, and the film was released under a different title. `` GONIN 2 '' (1996), directed by Takashi Ishii, was rated R (admission prohibited to junior high school students and under) due to the depiction of a person being cut in the head with a sword, and `` Yatsu Tomb Village '' (1996), directed by Kon Ichikawa, also featured a mass murderer being burned to death. A scene in which a baby is hit with fire chopsticks was seen as a problem, and ``Director Ichikawa constantly complained about it'' (DECIDE, September 1996 issue).

In addition, ` `The Trap '' (1996), the third installment of the private detective Mike Hama series that features drug injections and serial murders, was criticized by Eirin for five problematic cuts, and although two were cut, it was given an R. The designation was not reversed, and the film's 1995 release date had to be postponed by one year. Director Kaisho Hayashi says, ``The problem seems to be that the scene in which he is killed by lethal injection is reminiscent of the Aum incident, but that is a far-fetched interpretation.'' (Yomiuri Shimbun Evening Edition, supra).

This, like ``PiCNiC,'' is proof that we have entered an era in which ``the mere appearance of a syringe needle is subject to additional regulations'' (DECIDE, August 1996 issue). Iwai rejected the censorship request, which was based on the issuance of the Eirin mark as a ``request for revision.'' As a result, the double screening of `` undo '' and ``PiCNiC,'' for which trailers and TV spots had already been produced, was postponed.

``Complete version'' released 16 years after the ``Japanese version''