"Moving 4K Remaster Edition" Director of Photography/4K Supervision: Toyomichi Kurita 30 years after its release, creativity continues to this day [CINEMORE ACADEMY Vol.35]

Positive reviews from overseas

Q: The festival scene was quite crowded with people. Was it filmed at an actual festival?

Kurita: That's right. This was at a festival in Seta (Shiga Prefecture), and the people around the actors were extras. The assistant director and the production team secured the location in advance for filming. There was also the issue of time, so we shot almost everything in one take. I think we used three cameras, and Akihiro Ito, Noboru Shinoda and I filmed it together.

For the long shots, we lined up lights on the opposite bank. This was a lot of work for the lighting team, as they had to start preparing during the day when the festival started.

"Moving 4K Remaster Edition" ©1993/2023 Yomiuri Television Broadcasting Co., Ltd.

Q: After that, Renko gets lost in the forest, and the atmosphere gradually becomes more fantastical.

Kurita: From that point on, we started shooting "Day for Night" and night scenes. I wondered where Renko was heading, and just like in the graveyard scene, I wondered if she was stepping into another world.

Q: The scene where the float burns on the lake was also spectacular. I was amazed at how perfectly timed the dragon's head fell off after the camera panned.

Kurita: I still remember the feeling I had when I was taking that shot. It was a really strange shot. There wasn't any mechanism attached to the dragon's neck, it just fell at that exact moment. I think that's probably what makes the movie so interesting.

Overseas audiences responded well to this scene, but when the film was released in Japan, many people thought it was unnecessary. In fact, that part wasn't in the script. But I think that's exactly what Somai wanted to do.

"Moving 4K Remaster Edition" ©1993/2023 Yomiuri Television Broadcasting Co., Ltd.

Q: As a creator, how do you feel about your past works being brought back to life in 4K remasters and presented to audiences once again?

Kurita: This remaster won an award at the Venice International Film Festival, and I heard that it was young people who chose it. It was also released in theaters in France, starting at 11 theaters and eventually expanding to 138 theaters. When it was released in theaters in Japan in 1993, no one could have imagined it would become like this. Now it's meeting new audiences in new places. I hope it will meet new audiences in Japan as well. I was very happy to have been involved in this film.

Director of Photography/4K Supervision: Toyomichi Kurita

After training as an assistant to cinematographer Tatsuo Suzuki, he moved to the US in 1979. He made his debut as a feature film and cinematographer with "Trouble in Mind" (1987/directed by Alan Rudolph), and has since worked across various fields and regions of film. In addition to "Cookie Fortune" (2000/directed by Robert Altman), he has also served as cinematographer in Japan on "Forbidden" (1999/directed by Oshima Nagisa) and "Sukiyaki Western Django" (2007/directed by Miike Takashi). "Moving" was his only film with director Somai Shinji.

Interview and text: Fumio Koda

Editorial staff and writer for CINEMORE. My favorite movies are ``The Goonies'' and ``Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.'' My recent favorites are 4K digitally remastered classics by Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu.

"Moving 4K Remaster Edition"

December 27th (Friday) Bunkamura Le Cinema Shibuya Miyashita, Shinjuku Musashinokan and other locations nationwide

Distribution: Bitters End

©1993/2023 Yomiuri Television Broadcasting Co., Ltd.