"Enemy" Director Daihachi Yoshida makes movies he wants to see [Director's Interview Vol. 464]

Make the movies you want to see

Q: A black-and-white film with an old man as the protagonist seems like a big hurdle to overcome in the current Japanese film industry. Were you conscious of audiences or box office success while making the film?

Yoshida: I don't think about the viewers. I always make what I want to see, and I think it would be bad if that didn't match up. I have an unfounded conviction that there must be a certain number of people who want to see the same things that I want to see.

A staff member who read the script for this movie said to me, "Who would want to see a movie like this?" Most movie plans these days start with the idea that "I think there are a lot of people who want to see this kind of movie." In that situation, I was a little happy to hear someone say, "I don't know who wants to see this kind of movie, and that's why I decided to participate." I think that the theme of this movie is to meet actors, staff, and audiences who can sense the good points of movies that are not calculated to a certain extent before they are made, such as "This kind of person will watch it." That's what I think now.

One of the actors also asked me, "Whose project is this movie?" When I answered, "I wanted to do it," he said, "I thought so, so I want to do it." Gradually, I gained more and more allies like that, and I felt a kind of connection that I don't usually feel.

"Enemy" ©1998 Yasutaka Tsutsui/Shinchosha ©2023 TEKINOMIKATA

But I don't think there are many directors who think from the perspective of what the audience wants to see. I think the basic rule is to start by making something you want to see. Then, at some point, you make adjustments so that not only you, but many other people can see it. But this time, I think it was quite late in thinking about having people see it.

Q: Who are your favorite directors and movies?

Yoshida: Hong Sang-soo is the director whose new work I always want to go to the cinema to see. His previous new work, " Walk Up " (22), has a completely different atmosphere from "Enemy," but it was also in black and white, and I may have been influenced by it, such as the pathetic feeling of Gisuke trying to look cool.

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Director/Screenplay: Daihachi Yoshida

Born in Kagoshima Prefecture in 1963. After The Graduate from university, he worked as a commercial director. After several short films, he made his feature film debut in 2007 with "Show Me Your Sad Love, You Cowards." He was invited to the Critics' Week section of the 60th Cannes Film Festival. He won the Best Picture and Best Director awards at the 36th Japan Academy Film Prize for "Kirishima, Bukatsu Yamerutteyo" (2012). He won the Audience Award and Best Actress award at the 27th Tokyo International Film Festival for "Paper Moon" (2014). He won the Kim Ji-seok Award at the 22nd Busan International Film Festival for "The Hitsuji Tree" (2018). His other works include "Colonel Kuhio" (2009), "Permanent Rose" (2010), "A Beautiful Star" (2017), and "Decoy" (2021). His stage works include "Lukewarm Poison" (2013, scriptwriter and director) and "Colonel Kuhio's Wife" (2017, writer and director), and his dramas include "Divorced Couple" (2019).

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.

Photography: Kazunari Aoki

"enemy"

January 17th (Friday) Theater Shinjuku and other locations nationwide

Distributor: Happinet Phantom Studios/Geek Pictures

©1998 Yasutaka Tsutsui/Shinchosha ©2023 TEKINOMIKATA