"Egoist" Director Daiji Matsunaga x Ryohei Suzuki x Hio Miyazawa One scene and one cut [Director's Interview Vol.280]

The movie ``Egoist'' has a unique atmosphere. As soon as you start watching it, you notice it. The tense yet soft atmosphere that continues from the beginning feels like a declaration of the film's determination. The gaze and body drift and intertwine, and the camera becomes close to them. The “seriousness” of this movie approaches the viewer.

How did the stars, Ryohei Suzuki and Hio Miyazawa, and the director, Daiji Matsunaga, create that atmosphere and capture it in the movie? We spoke to three people.

"Egoist" synopsis

Kosuke (Ryohei Suzuki) lost his mother at the age of 14 and spent a depressed adolescence hiding his gay identity in Tasha-cho. She currently works as an editor for a fashion magazine at a publishing company in Tokyo, and after work, she enjoys spending time with her friends. Then he meets Ryuta (Hio Miyazawa), a personal trainer who lives with his mother (Sawako Agawa), a single mother. Kosuke is dressed in high-end clothes like armor to protect himself, and lives his life with a carefree yet somehow arrogant attitude, and his own self, who is confused at first but takes the helping hand offered by Kosuke. Ryuta is healthy and indifferent to beauty. The two, who are attracted to each other, spend a lot of time together, sometimes including Ryuta's mother. For Kosuke, who was burdened with feelings for his late mother, the time he spent supporting and loving Ryuta, who was close to his mother, was a happy one. However, an unexpected fate suddenly appears in front of them.

Index

• Improvisation play used in the main story
• Strengths of making documentaries
• I don't dare to tell you what's wrong
• What is an “egoist”?

Improvisation play used in the main story

Q: The appearance of the two characters in the play is very natural, and it feels like a documentary. What did the director say to the two of you?

Matsunaga: The basic preparation for the role started when we were fitting the costumes, but before we started working, we had about a week to rehearse, and then we worked on it together. However, I don't think I said anything like ``I want this to happen'' to the two of them.

Suzuki: Having watched the director's previous works, I thought he would dislike so-called "plays." I wanted to live my role in such a way that I didn't lie as much as possible. Then, the etude (improvisation) began from the beginning of the rehearsal. "Oh, I see. It's a work that requires you to truly become the character," he said.

Matsunaga: We had the director of photography come to the rehearsal and actually take pictures with the camera. The first scene is where Ryuta introduces his mother, Taeko, to Kosuke. It starts with Ryuta going shopping and Kosuke and Taeko being alone, and asking, ``Well, what do we do when we're alone?'' Since that was a scene that wasn't in the script, I didn't particularly try to convey any movements or dialogue from me.

Suzuki: What we often do in workshops is to improvise something that happened right before the scene to be shot, and connect that to the actual scene. But this time, that improvised part was also included in the main story. The atmosphere was like, ``It seems like whatever we said in the moment will be made into a movie'' (lol).

“Egoist” Ryohei Suzuki (as Kosuke Saito)

Matsunaga: Hio and I were watching the exchange between Kosuke and Taeko from a monitor in another room, and Hio seemed to be having fun and said, ``That's really good, isn't it?'' (lol) Of course, I thought it was good too, so I used it as is in the main story.

Miyazawa: This was my first time performing like this. In other productions, it is basic to faithfully express what is written in the script through the play. But in this case, even though the story had a flow, they left it up to us to decide the route to get to the goal of the scene. I think the movie turned out the way it did because he wasn't forced to follow any route, and he took in all the words, expressions, and emotions that came out at that moment.

There were moments when we didn't know what was going to happen while we were doing it, and we wondered, ``What kind of reaction will they have next?'' ``What kind of words will they say?'' Everything was so raw and real. It would be great if every site had such a luxurious environment.

Matsunaga: This is also my first time doing something like this. I've wanted to try this before, but it wasn't possible until all the pieces were in place. Also, some movies are better not to be shot using this method. For example, something that would never be possible in an action movie. Ryohei, Hyo, Mr. Agawa, director of photography Ikeda (Naoya), the staff, and this theme made this possible. We all moved forward while seeing what we could do together.

Strengths of making documentaries