Japan Cuts 2018 Interview: HANAGATAMI Star Kubozuka Shunsuke on a Story of Youth During Wartime

Hanagatami, the latest work from director Obayashi Nobuhiko, is a fever dream of youth during wartime.  Solidly surreal and sweating with sexual tension, the auteur cast his story of teenagers with actors in their twenties, thirties and forties.  

 

At Japan Cuts, star Kubozuka Shunsuke spoke with LMD about bringing the maestro’s passion play to the screen. 

 

 

 

Kubozuka Shunsuke:  Director Obayashi is someone who, over the past ten years, he grew me as an actor; so, for me, being part of this was extremely important.  It was also a dream come true for me, as well.

 

 

SK:  Yeah, I was surprised. {Laughs} I asked twice. {Laughs} That wasn’t a really a problem for the director, how old the actor, how old the character.  For him, he just wanted them to be themselves.

 

 

SK:  As opposed to focusing on how my character moves, or each part of the acting, I focused on studying.  Eighty percent of my research was the historical and cultural background of that context:  What kind of writers were trending?  What kind of music they listened to during wartime?  That’s the kind of research I was doing.

 

 

SK:  For them, too, it was the first time to experience a war.  So, as opposed to thinking, ‘What would they have thought?’ I experienced the war for the first time, as well, as I researched.  So, I was just honest and true to myself, after, with the foundation of that knowledge, what I would do?

 

 

SK:  I didn’t think each part about the details of the movement, but the one direction that Director gave me was, “You are the storyteller.  You are the scribe.” I am the only one who survives in the story, so I wanted to emphasise the difference; the uniqueness of my character among the rest.  So, once I was thinking about that overarching concept, that’s just how the movements came to be.

 

 

SK:  There is the part in the foreword when it is mentioned that the character of Toshihiko has a brightness that saves everyone -- an innate brightness.  It is a very strange wording, so every time I was confused about the character and the script, I would go back to the foreword and those words, and try to understand the meaning of them.

 

 

SK:  I think this is a description of Toshihiko’s character, but I think he has a cloudless, pure character.  At first, he might seem kind of aloof, but it’s actually a purity.  He has a spongelike character of emotional sensitivity, so, I think that’s something that people around him find attractive, and I feel like that’s how they come to him.

 

 

SK:  I think probably his going to Amsterdam is part of his highly-educated background, the book emphasises that, but his purity might be a result of the anxiety and excitement that comes from coming back and wanting to get along well with everyone.  That kind of engenders his purity and his innocence, maybe, I’m not so sure.

 

 

SK:  First of all, it’s impossible for him to have paralleled his father figure onto anyone, because at the time, it was kind of common for children to feel like their father was very distant; a cold figure.  But especially for Toshihiko’s case, it is totally on a different level, it’s out of the question.

 

 

 

SK:  There was not explicit direction from the director about this, but it’s very clear and obvious from the script.  And I feel for Toshihiko, there is no boundary in sex; he is interested in people as like this fluid thing.  It doesn’t really matter what their gender is.  There is also his relationship with Mina; he does like her, too.  He doesn’t like her because she is a woman, or not, it doesn’t have to do with her gender, as such.

 

 

SK:  Director Obayashi really accepted me as like part of the family.  I first met him when I was 22, in 1996, so it’s twelve or thirteen years, and I’ve grown.  Each time, it’s a very different collaboration, so I feel very close to him, like a father.

 

 

SK:  So I think from 2011, director Obayashi’s style has changed very sharply.  As a result, all of us actors have also received that influence, and have also changed in that way.

 

 

SK:  At first, yes, I was a little bit troubled by this, but after asked the director, “How should I feel about this?”  He said, “I don’t even know, either.”  Nobody knows! {Laughs} There was this overarching feeling of relief to be part of this, so we just don’t trust in his eye, and his sense.

 

 

SK:  To live freely and honestly.

 

 

SK:  I feel pure happiness.  This is the third day I’ve been here New York, but I just feel like this is the peak, and it’s the end of the festival.  I’m probably the most excited at the festival, right now. {Laughs}

 

 

SK:  I’m going to continue being an actor in Japan, working on movies and dramas.  I just came back from working on director Obayashi’s newest film, which was being shot in Hiroshima.  So, I want everybody to be excited about that.  It’s called Theatre by the Shore.

 

 

SK:  There are so many outlets for where to think, but basically, it’s supposed to be entertainment, so I just want everyone to enjoy it.