"Fukuda Village Incident" Director Tatsuya Mori A feature film made by a true documentary artist brings out the dark side of Japan [Director's Interview Vol.349]

Performing a massacre scene

Q: The climax scene of the massacre gave me goosebumps. Director Mori's theme, the madness that occurs when people group together, is beautifully expressed. I think it must have been quite difficult to direct that scene because there were so many characters in it.

Mori: The shoot happened around this time last year (August), when it was the hottest. And since the filming location is Kyoto, it's especially hot. There was nothing to block the sun at the scene, so I felt like I was shooting in a dream and thinking, ``This is what it looked like when I took the photo.'' I haven't done that big of a performance.

Q: Was it a good season to shoot?

Mori: I guess that's true too (lol). If it had been winter, I think the actors would have been more cooped up.

Q: There are many movies overseas that depict genocide, but what I think is important is the strange tension between people who collide with each other leading up to the massacre, and the tingling feeling it creates. It was brilliant in this work. I think this is rare in Japanese movies.

Mori: There's a long scene where the villagers question the peddlers if they're Japanese, and apparently that's what happened in real life. After all, there are people who are hesitant or don't want to kill someone, so I tried to carefully portray that. That may be the reason for the tingling sensation.

Q: Normally, this scene doesn't end when you think it's about to end.

Mori: Yes, I keep doing it.

“Fukuda Village Incident” © “Fukuda Village Incident” Project 2023

He also said that he would step down as director.

Q: How was editing a feature film compared to a documentary?

Mori: There's not that much of a difference. The basis of editing is montage, and this is no different for documentaries. For documentaries, I create the structure while watching the rushes, but for dramas, I think about the structure before filming. The order is different, but the elements are the same. In that sense, I didn't have much hesitation. Of course, depending on the cut, you may think, ``I think I'll extend it for another two seconds because the expression looks good,'' but that's about it at most.

Q: However, you didn't edit it exactly according to the script.

Mori: It's true that I had to put back scenes that I had cut out, and there were battles with the script department.

Q: So there were quite a few areas where Director Mori made concessions.

Mori: Or rather, I was late to the staff meeting led by Wakamatsu Pro, so I joined by myself, so there was a lot of pressure from the team. There have been times when I have pushed myself to the limit, and times when I have been pushed through.

Q: I thought Director Mori would do a good job of persuading people to get his point across.

Mori: I once said that I couldn't be a director in such an environment. I thought about getting off. However, the producer convinced me that if I left here, I would be betraying the wishes of the many people who had supported me through crowdfunding and other means. ...But in any case, the final part went pretty much the way I wanted it to, and I was able to clearly present my theme. That's for sure.

I didn't want to say "get ready, start"

Q: Since it was your first full-length feature film, I'm sure there were some difficulties on set, but I heard that Director Mori didn't want to say "get ready, start" at first.

Mori: I still don't want to say it. Next time I decide to make a feature film, I'll try not to say "start."

Q: Why?

Mori: Even though I concentrate at the moment of “get ready!”, I lose focus the moment I say “start!”. In track and field, if you get into a crouching start position and say "Don!", you won't be able to run. When I said "start" for the first time on set, I realized that this was no good and asked for someone to say it in my place. But I was told, ``The director should say that,'' so I forced myself to say it. I'm impressed that other directors can say this so well.

Q: In an interview, Director Mori said, ``In documentaries, the photographer is sometimes provoked by the subject, and that relationship is incorporated into the work, but in fact, you should be able to have that kind of relationship with the actors in feature films as well.'' It was interesting.

Mori: Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa once said something to the effect of, ``I feel like I'm giving lines to actors and filming them as a documentary,'' and I think that's certainly true. The way lines are expressed differs from person to person, so even the same line will be performed differently depending on the actor. In that sense, feature films are also documentaries.