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

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

The postponement of the release of "PiCNiC" must have been the first setback for Iwai, who had gotten off to a smooth start as a film director, but fortunately, the film that emerged as an alternative to "PiCNiC" When Iwai won the Japan Film Directors Guild Newcomer Award, he worked on the film `` Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom? ” It must have been. At this point, the public had only had two chances to see it, the main broadcast and the rebroadcast, and it had not been made into a software. It was re-edited and formatted as a theatrical version, and when it was released at Theater Shinjuku in August 1995 along with `` Undo ,'' it became a huge success, breaking theater records at the time, and making this masterpiece known as a ``movie.'' It currently holds the record for the third-highest box office revenue in the theater's history. The theatrical animation remake of the same film produced in 2017 would not have existed without this sudden theatrical release.

On the other hand, the original version of "PiCNiC" was screened at the 46th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Berlin Newspaper Readers' Jury Prize in the Forum category, and although it has been screened overseas, it has not yet been released in Japan. It remained postponed. Finally, on June 15, 1996, Iwai's TV drama ``FRIED DRAGON FISH'' was released at Cine Saison Shibuya, along with other films, but there was a disclaimer that ``This screening will be in the Japanese version.'' was.

Regarding this matter, ``Weekly Friday'' (June 28, 1996 issue) stated, ``Eirin requested that the sexual scene between a female doctor in a white coat and a young psychopath be deleted, and director Shunji Iwai refused, so the film was not released in Japan for more than half a year. The film was also delayed. Director Iwai made a compromise by specifying that it was a ``Japanese version,'' and making the sequence in question ``look unnatural,'' and the film was finally released.''

Iwai later said, ``In the end, we were forced to cut approximately 5 minutes of ``PiCNiC.'' There was also a scene in which the ghost teacher makes Tsumuji rain urine, and that was the ``last rain on earth'' scene. It was also a foreshadowing of Tsumuji becoming confused,'' (`` Trash Basket Theater ''), revealing the details of the scene that was specifically cut.

Tadanobu Asano also commented on the cuts: ``The scene where Tsumuji is taken back to the hospital while walking on the wall and taken to the basement by the staff, and the scene where Tsumuji is given an injection and raped by a female doctor.5,6 It was explained that about a minute was cut out, but without that scene, the meaning of the female teacher would change.'' (`` Actors File 1 '') He goes into further detail, stating that From what was said, I was able to roughly grasp the content that had been cut.

In fact, when you watch the ``Japanese version'', after the cut where Tsumuji and Coco are carried underground on a stretcher, the next scene jumps to the scene where the two are talking on the rooftop, which gives an abrupt impression. remain. At first glance, it seemed like the depiction was omitted, but after the rooftop scene, she escapes from the mental hospital again and never returns in the movie, so why did Kazue Ito, who plays the doctor who appears in the first half, appear? As Iwai says, multiple hints disappear. The ``Japanese version'' was screened with major changes made during filming and key points in the story were deleted, making it extremely distorted and unfinished for an Iwai work from this period. It is not surprising that this gave such an impression.

To note the stories surrounding PiCNiC since it was released in Japan in 1996, Koichi Hashizume, who played Satoru, passed away in 1999, and Noboru Shinoda, the cinematographer, passed away in 2004. Then, in 2012, when it was becoming one of Iwai's most forgotten works, it was decided to be released on Blu-ray, and to coincide with it, ``PiCNiC'' was to be specially shown in theaters. The original version is billed as the ``Complete Version'' and has a running time of 72 minutes, longer than the 68 minutes of the ``Japanese version.'' This screening was re-examined by Eirin, and it was stated that ``Although clothed masturbation and fondling of the crotch are seen in the movie, children under the age of 12 may view the movie with the advice and guidance of a parent or guardian.'' Although the film was rated PG12, something that did not exist 16 years ago, the depiction of injections and mental hospitals, which had previously been a concern for Eirin, did not become an issue. Using this example, we can understand how Eirin's judgments fluctuate depending on the circumstances of the time, and how excessive restrictions on expression are sometimes applied.

"PiCNiC", which can be viewed on current software and distribution, is all "complete version", and Iwai himself was involved in re-adjusting grain noise and noise reduction based on newly HD telecined clear images, and it will be released for the first time. It has a different look from the old DVD, which had colors close to those of time-lapse films. Iwai explained the reason for this, saying, ``Even if I thought the footage was OK before, when I look at it with my current eyes, I want to make some changes, and there are things that I couldn't do with the technology I had at the time of production.'' (Omitted) My own way of thinking about paintings has also changed,'' (HiVi, October 2012 issue), explaining his intention behind the new color grading.

If you compare it with the old DVD, the difference in art style is obvious, but you'll notice that there are slight changes in addition to the restoration of the deleted scenes mentioned above. In the first scene where they are trying to get out of the wall, there is a cut where Coco talks to Tsumuji and the others, and a cut where the police officer on a bicycle finds the three people walking on the wall.In the "complete version", each cut lasts about 3 seconds. You will notice the slight difference that it is longer, and that the picture of the signboard in the scene where he shoots the signboard with a handgun has been replaced in the ``complete version.'' It's likely that they only made changes to areas that they were not satisfied with in terms of quality that could be corrected using current technology. On the other hand, for those who are fascinated by the unique images created using special development on 16mm film, there remains a desire to see the unaltered version of ``PiCNiC,'' which brings out the film's potential.

Iwai's work is `` Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom? '' and `` Love Letter '', two stories with different perspectives are often formed within the same film, but `` undo '' and ``PiCNiC'' were also screened as originally scheduled. If that had been the case, it would have been a two-part series, `` Undo ,'' about a person suffering from mental illness, and ``PiCNiC,'' which is set in a mental hospital, depicting the same theme from different perspectives.

“ Undo ” is about the relationship between Etsushi Toyokawa and Tomoko Yamaguchi, “Were they bound?” Was it untied? '', but if you watch it to the end, it becomes unclear whether it was Toyokawa or Yamaguchi who escaped from the world of madness.

And for ``PiCNiC,'' which depicts the line between inside and outside the fence, the overall impression of the movie has changed dramatically with the ``complete version,'' which revives approximately 5 minutes of deleted scenes. The addition of scenes that emphasize the abnormality of the doctors and nurses makes the contrast with Asano, who continues to act as a normal person throughout the film, stand out, and it becomes clear that it is the wall that is sick. Is it the person inside? Is it someone outside the fence? >The question becomes clear.

However, with the release of the "complete version" seal, I don't think this work has been completed. In the novel `` Boys Wanted to See the Fireworks from the Side '' (Kadokawa Bunko), which was published in conjunction with the animated remake of ` ` Fireworks ,'' Iwai reconstructed the same story from a new perspective. ``Letter '' also brilliantly arranges the setting of `` Love Letter '' to create a completely different story. Although it was never published, there seems to be a partially written novelization of PiCNiC, which includes scenes of Coco masturbating while basking in the sun on the roof of her home before entering a mental hospital. It is said that Iwai himself said, ``At first, the picture I had in mind was a little larger-scale, so I later realized that it might have been a much more budget-intensive movie.'' ("SWITCH" 2020 (February 2016 issue), it would be strange if a newly reconstructed full-length version of "PiCNiC" was suddenly born, considering that his work stands out from the self-remakes of recent years. isn't it.

[References]

『PiCNiC” DVD (Fuji Television Video Planning Department/Pony Canyon), “PiCNiC complete version” Blu-ray (Fuji Television/Pony Canyon), “PiCNiC” theater pamphlet, “undo/PiCNiC” script, “trash basket theater ” (Media Factory, Kadokawa Bunko) “NOW and THEN Shunji Iwai”(Kadokawa Shoten), “Magic Launcher Hideaki Anno x Shunji Iwai” (Digital Hollywood Publishing), “Kine Shun Mook Film Makers [17] Shunji Iwai ” (Kinema Junposha), “What is movie shooting? Testimonies of 40 cameramen” (Heibonsha), “The legacy of photographer Noboru Shinoda” by Kazuya Horikoshi, SJP Publishing), “Actors File (1) Tadanobu Asano”, “The Television”, “Monthly Kadokawa”, “Da Vinci”, “SWITCH”, “Prinz 21”, “HiVi”, “Kinema Junpo”, “Yomiuri Shimbun”, “Weekly Shincho”, “DECIDE” https://www.eirin.jp/

Text: Ichiro Yoshida (guinea pig Yoshida)

Born in 1978. Movie critic. He has written for ``Eiga Hiho'', ``Kinema Junpo'', ``Eiga Geijutsu'', ``Scenario'', etc. His books include ``Introduction to film criticism! ” (Yosensha), co-authored with “Film director Takeshi Kitano. ” (Film Art Company) and others

“PiCNiC <Complete version>”

Blu-ray now on sale Price: ¥4,180 (¥3,800)

Publisher: Fuji Television/Pony Canyon

Seller: Pony Canyon

(C)1996, 2012 FUJI TELEVISION/PONY CANYON