" The Abyss" Director Ren Sudo A work cannot be created without intense energy [Director's Interview Vol.351]

“Location” and “Mood”

Q: Even though the core of the story is rough and has a sense of momentum, I thought the art was sophisticated and harmonious.

Sudo: I think whether or not the audience will be able to see the rugged energy depends on the quality of the images. I've seen a lot of movies, but I like the directors' early works. There are some powerful movies that you don't really understand, but you can feel the emotion clearly. I was also aiming to make a movie like this, so I think a work like this one was born.

Q: I felt like I had packed everything I wanted to do. The scene in the smoking area especially left an impression on me.

Sudo: Actually, that scene was originally shot in an alley and was reshot. In ` `Before Sunrise '' (1995), there's a scene where two people listen to a record, and it makes you realize how small the room is and how close they are. I feel like indoors has that kind of “power.” When I originally shot the scene in an outdoor alley, I felt like the romantic mood between the two would be lost. So we went around all the smoking areas in Shibuya and reshot at those locations. It was a nondescript smoking area, like an abandoned bus, but it had a strong atmosphere.

Romantic relationships change over time, so I change the angle of photography accordingly. It was a great location where you could play with the mood by taking pictures through the window of the smoking area and inside. I realized once again that location is important in my films.

"ABYSS The Abyss" (C) Movie "ABYSS The Abyss" Production Committee

I think Japan is cool when people from other countries take pictures of it, such as " Lost in Translation " (2003), " Norwegian Wood " (10), and " Enter the Void " (2009). I think that's what I wanted to create. For me, ``the art is cool'' is so important that I can't resist it. Anyway, I wanted to make the image look cool, so I reshot it.

Q: The way Shibuya was depicted was new and cool.

In my previous work, `` Backlight ,'' I captured the idea of ​​``beauty'' being omitted, and created a world by abstracting away things that are not beautiful. It wasn't that difficult compared to this time. He walked around Onomichi, selected beautiful places, superimposed beautiful clothes on beautiful people, and captured them in beautiful shots. On the other hand, Shibuya in " The Abyss" was completely different. It was necessary to capture a ``moment of beauty'' from the chaos of Shibuya, where there may or may not be beauty. While emitting something like the energy of Shibuya, it maintains the quality of the image. It was a very difficult balance.

Works cannot be created without intense energy.