"Torao" Director Kazuya Murayama Depicts the aftermath of an unsolved case starring a real former detective [Director's Interview Vol.242]

An encounter with a former detective who investigated the case

Q: What made you decide to make a movie about this incident?

Murayama: The biggest thing for me was actually meeting Torao (Nishimura).

Q: I read Torao-san's published e-book , ``Chiho-chan Sorry! True Story: The Truth Hidden Behind the Murder Investigation,'' right?

Murayama: There are a lot of movies based on actual incidents. I originally wanted to make a movie about this incident, and I read `` Chiho-chan Gomen! '' around 2017, when I was working on ``Falling''. Looking at my Amazon history, I found that I had ordered back issues of old articles back in 2014, so I had been looking into them for quite some time. However, at that point, I just wanted it to be a hint for a feature film, rather than a documentary or true story.

But I couldn't quite come up with anything, so I made up a rough story about a buddy story about a former detective pursuing a case with a female college student, wrote a 70-page script, and submitted it to the Tokyo Filmex competition, but it didn't really catch on. did not. I was thinking about what to do, but time was running out, so I decided to make a move. There was a time when I felt like I had a little free time at work, so I went to Kanazawa to go on location scouting with my colleague, a photographer, and met Mr. Torao.

“Torao” (C) “Torao” Production Committee

Q: In Torao-san's book `` Inakajiji won the Best Actor Award? '', you wrote that you didn't notice the Arrival from director Murayama for half a year.

Murayama: I contacted Torao once because I wanted to hear his story as a reference for the movie, but I didn't get a reply for half a year... I finally got a reply and went to meet him while I was on location scouting. I learned something from talking to Mr. Torao, and I thought about how I should express it, so I started doing a lot of research myself. It felt like I was reinvestigating the investigation myself, like Kayako, the other main character in the movie.

I don't know if Mr. Torao was trying to entrust me with something when we first met, but the statute of limitations had expired over 10 years ago, so there was nothing I could do about it, and he also knew that I was from his hometown. I had the feeling that perhaps he had been entrusted with the task. It really started to move from there. In the end, it took about a year and a half before we could start filming.

Torao's way of life that deviates from fiction