Tatsuya Fuji interview by Reiko Kubo, film writer:

The Pleasure of Searching the Bright Future with the Men with the Same Wavelength

Q. While shooting this film, you were saying that you really look forward to seeing the complete film. After seeing it what do you think?

Fuji: This film is like a kaleidoscope. Is there bright future or not? Is it you or me? It gives you pleasure to search these. Shin-ichiro, the man I play, received certain things from his time, but they are too old-fashioned now and he cannot give them away to the new generation. He is at a loss. It is easy to hand them over to somebody else but nobody can accept them, so the young people must create their own things and walk in the bright future. I feel the film is about this kind of thing.

Q. I heard you could not characterize Shin-ichiro from the script. How did you visualize him in the film?

Fuji: The shooting schedule was delayed and I had another 6 month to think it over, thus, I could come close to the character after some trial and error. In the original script, Shin-ichiro speaks at one time that he is from Hanamaki, a city from north. I imagined that this character went to university there and I thought about using a northern accent, but director Kurosawa told me that was too much. Then, I thought this character went to a local high school, employed by a fairly big corporation working in its engineering department, but he flopped over something and had to resign. He became unemployed when his children were still teenagers and nothing began to work. I imagined his role something like this.

Q. Were there any particularly impressive process while characterizing this role?

Fuji: At one point, he says that he will “forgive” them. I do not believe Shin-ichiro meant he forgives a murderer for his action. This is a very difficult line. However, if the line is there, Shin-ichiro must deliver it. Whether it is dark or bright, the future is for sure to come. Those who head for it have new life and those with old life stop there. It is senseless to reject to move on to a next step. Whether it is good or bad, I had to move Shin-ichiro to the direction of him “forgiving”. At the end, I was loaning my body to the Shin-ichiro character, and I could deliver that line without hesitation.

Q. I heard you brought in the song you sang in the film.

Fuji: I hang around at a bar and met a retired engineer there. He had a CD containing the poetry by Kenji Miyazawa. I heard it and there was a strange song about constellations. This is why the word scorpion comes out. The lights of stars come from far, far away in the future, or in the past. I told the director that there is this strange song. However, actors often do something like this in many films and it’s nothing special.

Q. Shin-ichiro is kind of difficult to grasp, but has some comic aspect as a human being. This seems to drive the film to the bright future.

Fuji: I wasn’t conscious of it when I was acting, but afterwards, Shin-ichiro is somewhat not together and comic. … It was something I did not expect.

Q. You were not conscious that this time you were creating something new?

Fuji: Not exactly. I always want to create something new, so if the viewers feel it, you did not do it well. I am full of ambition and I want to travel with many characters. It is true that bright future is very much of an independent film and I liked it. I felt I did it!

Q. Both Asano and Odagiri said that they were much inspired while shooting. How did you find it?

Fuji: I believe there is this mysterious form that a man emits in the form of air or wavelength, not necessarily in words. Including director Kurosawa, we did not have to talk all the time, maybe because we had the same wavelength. We have the common goal of making a film. I like filmmaking where nothing else comes in.

Q. What do you think about Asano and Odagiri who played the roles of young generation, like Shin-ichiro’s son?

Fuji: Asano can express the present generation by their smell. As an actor, he is very accomplished and he has his own way of expressing himself. If Asano is a kind of stout jellyfish, Odarigi is softer like marshmallow. I liked his soft attitude with some anxiety. I am solid, a bit dried up jellyfish. On the shore, I am saying sunlight is harsh, I need water….(laugh)

Q. How can you place bright future in your filmography? Director Kurosawa said that he wants to work with you again.

Fuji: I’m delighted! My hand holding this coffee cup shivered! (laugh) During the shooting you don’t know who this film is for, as there are no audiences present yet. Therefore, you must dedicate the film to its director. If we are knights, the director is like a king or a lady, always the one who receives dedications. However, whether he or she is worthy of our dedication depends on himself/herself or his/her script. I like all the films I have worked on, but really memorable ones are only about three. I think this film will be my fourth.
 

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