New York Asian 2019 Interview: 5 MILLION DOLLAR LIFE Director Moon Sung-ho and Producer Endo Hiroshi on What a Life is Worth

In his feature debut, director Moon Sung-ho ponders the value of a human life. 5 Million Dollar Life is a unique road trip / coming-of-age story of one Japanese teenager’s bumpy journey toward self-discovery.  

 

At the New York Asian Film Festival, accompanied by producer Endo Hiroshi, Moon spoke exclusively with LMD about his underlying positive message, casting “cute,” and losing his “feature film virginity.”

 

 

 

Moon Sung-ho:  It did come from an actual study, but the amount is 2 million for a Japanese person’s average life.  For the screenwriter, Hiruta Naomi, what was interesting for her was that the difference between the income and output that remains after what was spent is only $20,000.  And so, I thought that, combined with this kid who gets a heart transplant would be interesting.

 

 

MSh:  When I was starting interviews with press in Japan, this was something that came up a lot; that this was my debut film, my first feature.  It seemed to me that this is more important to other people.  I didn’t realise when I was making it -- I wasn’t thinking about the fact that I was giving my feature film virginity to this film.  

 

So, I think I hadn’t thought that this would be my debut, and so I’m kind of regretting it now, and thinking that I should’ve maybe thought further about who to give this feature virginity to. {Laughs} I’ve lost the virginity, it’s too late. {Laughs}

 

Endo Hiroshi: The starting point was the fact that director Moon entered this contest, where filmmakers pitched ideas for development for their project to be produced, and this project won the grand prize.

 

 

 

MSh:  I don’t think a lot of people had awareness of the burden that has been placed on him in the film, but his mother was aware.  But while she was aware, she was someone who couldn’t say to her son, “You don’t have to feel pressure about this,” but I think she was aware.

 

 

MSh:  I do think the mother’s story is very important, but the main character is Mirai, and the mom doesn’t have a lot of scenes.  But, through those scenes we were hoping that the pressure that she had been under would be felt, and we worked really hard to achieve that with the proportion that we ended up with.  Her story is very important, but we tried to get a good balance of her story versus the main character, Mirai’s story.

 

As for the backstory of the mother, we discussed the idea that for the mom, 5 million dollars is nothing compared to the life of her son.  If she had it, she would spend 10 million, or 100 million.  She couldn’t see that there was a struggle -- that she would spend all that money, but she doesn’t have that money.  So, that was something that I spoke to about with Nishida Naomi, who played the mother, to kind of have this feeling within her, throughout.

 

 

MSh:  I’ve actually never heard that, yet; that he has an alienlike quality, but if I’m analysing, maybe it comes from the fact that we were really aware of making sure that he would not be disliked by viewers.  That he would be a likable character.  But also maybe it has to do with the way the actor, himself, looks.  I don’t know how he came across to you.  I’m curious if you could tell me?

 

 

MSh:  I think children, when they’re born, are a bit alienlike, and I think Mirai was someone that was very carefully raised.  Then he became a high school student with a great lack of experience in various parts of his life, so maybe that contributed to that coming across as alien.

 

 

MSh:  I think maybe he was this kind of untouchable presence for everyone.  Kind of like seeing someone alienlike, or a bit different.

 

This was a scene that didn’t end up making it into the film: but originally in the script there was a scene where a classmate bumps into Mirai.  And that exchange, for the classmate, is like ‘Oh, my God, he might break.  If I touch Mirai, he’s so fragile, he is this weak person who had this heart transplant.’  So, that might’ve contributed to this sense of untouchableness.

 

 

MSh:  I found Ayumu through auditions.  And of course, whether he could act or not was important, but overall, he was just so cute.  He really made me want to donate.  That felt really important.

 

 

MSh:  I think Chiharu as a character, reaffirmed his reality for him.  That is to say, because she came up to him, saying, “You were so close to death, so you must know what it’s like?”  So, I think that made him really see his truth a bit more.  But for me, I really do think the trigger for this journey he goes on is this Kiyomaru figure that reaches out to him via Twitter.

 

EH:  In Japan, there is this term that is derived from the English words, “mental health,” though it’s a bit different, that refers to people, who, as a way of getting more attention or love from parents or friends, might make attempts at self-harm; whether it’s cutting wrists, or something like that, as a way to feel more seen, or more valued.  So, for Chiharu, Mirai was getting all this attention, so I think that she was jealous of all that attention he was getting, that she sought.

 

 

MSh:  Yes, it definitely did have that intention.  In my past work, the themes of life and death wasn’t something really I explored, and making this project, it was something I really thought about, and about what it is to live.  

 

The conclusion I kind of came to was that is something you can answer when you’re about to die: Looking back on it, then you would know what it is to live.  So, to explore that through Mirai, who doesn’t have that answer, but has to go on this journey to find out, and in doing so, I hoped to kind of have a positive message through that.

 

 

MSh:  My entire family, including my parents, are Korean.  So, for them, they had a strong desire for me to go to Korea.  They told me, “You can do whatever you want to do in the future, that’s up to you; but go to Korea.”  

 

Also, at the same time, when I was in high school, Korean movies were starting to get popular in Japan, and so that was good for me, and then also good for my parents for me to go to Korea.  So, when I told them I was interested in going to film school in Korea, they said, “Please go.”

 

I actually couldn’t speak Korean before I went to school there, so, for my parents, now I can speak it, and I think they are really happy about that.  Once I learned better Korean at school, I could understand how dirty some of the things my parents were saying were. {Laughs} The F word, the F word. {Laughs}

 

As for whether there is something different, and how I am as a creator because I studied in Korea, compared to other Japanese filmmakers, who studied filmmaking in Japan -- I’m not aware of any differences.  That is something you would have to ask other producers.

 

 

EH:  I don’t think there’s a difference. {Laughs}

 

 

MSh:  The message of the film, I think, as I was saying earlier, is that if you’re living with this weight, with this pressure, maybe if you change your perspective, the world would lighten up.  That’s the message, I would hope, but honestly, when I was making this film, I really was intending it thinking about the domestic audience in Japan; I wasn’t really thinking about a foreign audience.  I’m really looking forward to finding out how people are going to react.

 

EH:  I think this concept of this movie, 5 Million Dollar Life, is actually quite Japanese -- the situation of it.  So, I am really looking forward to finding out what the reaction of the audience here will be.  I think for the character of Mirai, such a good kid is rare, even for Japanese people, so I am curious to know whether and how it will be accepted by this audience.  A story about money, or a story about life is something that is universal, so I think something will be connected to the audience.