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ADRIFT IN TOKYO Director Miki Satoshi Returns With IT'S ME, IT'S ME!
Director Miki Satoshi must really, really like star Kamenashi Kazuya- a member of pop band Kat-Tun - because he's put the pop star into his latest film a whole lot of times.
Miki has been a great favorite around these parts for years now, the director of Adrift In Tokyo building a loyal following thanks to his quietly absurd sense of humor and unusual ability to balance out his quirks with legitimate depth. And his latest effort sounds like no exception to his normal rule. It's Me, It's Me (Ore, Ore) stars Kamenashi as a young man who attempts to run a simple scam and ends up duplicating himself. And then the duplicates begin duplicating until, suddenly, there are rather a lot of him. Which is great until they start turning on one another.
The trailer is available only on the official site and it's well worth a look. Check it out.
http://twitchfilm.com/2013/04/adrift-in-tokyo-director-miki-satoshi-returns-with-its-me-its-me.html
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Udine FEFF 15: Interview with Director Miki Satoshi
It has been over a year since CUEAFS held East Winds: A Third Window Film Festival in Coventry when they had the honour of welcoming the established Japanese director Miki Satsohi. On the second day of the 15th edition of the Udine Far East Film Festival they had the pleasure to meet him once again and to talk to him about his new film ‘It’s Me, It’s Me’, which had its World Premiere at the Opening Ceremony of the festival.
Eva Spirova: Were you pleased with the audience’s reception of the film at its World Premiere at the Opening Ceremony of the festival?
Miki Satoshi: First and foremost, Coventry was a great example of what happens when I go abroad and it is an opportunity for me to see how people perceive my movies. Coming to your festival was a great experience as I started shooting ‘It’s Me, It’s Me’ right after I got back from Coventry. It is always interesting to see how viewers see the film. Their reaction is very important for me as I can see whether I can share their reaction or not. So it is always a very pleasant and fun experience. For instance, one of the films that were presented at East Winds was also presented at the Udine Far East Film Festival a few years ago. So for me it was very interesting to see the difference in the reaction of the Italian and the English audiences.
ES: At East Winds we screened ‘Adrift in Tokyo’ which is also your previous film. However, there was a one year gap between ‘Adrift in Tokyo’ and your latest ‘It’s Me, It’s Me’. Could you please talk us through your decision to take this one year break from directing?
Miki Satoshi: Well, actually, there was a film in between the ‘Adrift in Tokyo’ and ‘It’s Me, It’s Me’ and that is ‘Instant Swamp’. This movie was released in Japan in 2009 whilst ‘Adrift in Tokyo’ was released in 2007. So it all depends on finding producers on whom you can rely on.
ES: We are familiar with your previous comedies such as ‘Turtles Are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers’ and ‘In the pool’. However, what we found interesting in ‘It’s Me, It’s Me’ is the shift in the tone as the film progresses. We’re just wondering what were the reasons behind your decision of making this shift to a more dark tone towards the end of the film?
Miki Satoshi: As an author I like to try different things so I decided to go for a different form in this film, for something darker. For example, like Kubrick, this is something I was always interested in, so when making ‘It’s Me, It’s Me’ I decided to open this approach. Also, I don’t like routine. I actually fear routine. I do not appreciate doing the same things over and over again. So this time I wanted to show a much darker comedy.
Furthermore, these days we are surrounded by many films which are very cheerful and very easy to understand. It is much more difficult to make a dark comedy so I thought this was just the right time to do it. However, I don’t think that my style is that famous that it should be criticised as when for example Bob Dylan went from acoustic guitar to electric guitar.
ES: The central theme of the film is identity crisis and finding who you are. Is this in a way a comment on contemporary Japan? In addition, is the cast of the famous Kamenashi Kazuya serving as a comment on the Japanese youth culture?
Miki Satoshi: Both things are exactly the way you put them. It is indeed a problem nowadays but it might have also been a problem in the past – of how two or more individuals relate to each other. Also, in the past we had big powers over us, as for example the country or powerful individuals. But nowadays people have Internet and with it several individuals have got the chance of getting in touch with each other. At the same time Internet identities are collapsing. I thought these issues would be very interesting material for a comedy and so these are one of the main motivations that brought me into making this film.
I remember when I was at the Coventry Market I saw many different personalities; it was a very peculiar place. Now in Japan they are destroying all of these peculiar places and they are making suburbs instead. They build the same shopping malls, the same buildings etc. and so the panorama is the same everywhere. And so I thought that this issue is also something that could be brought in the movie.
ES: Your films have been compared to the films of Spike Johnson. You also mentioned Stanley Kubrick. In terms of your inspirations and influences would you say that they have changed over the years you’re been directing?
Miki Satoshi: I have always liked the way these directors have expressed themselves, but at the same time when making this film I had the chance of getting something which is inside of me, something which was my personal asset. With this film I had the chance to wake this personal heritage up. I also like David Lynch, I like Kubrick as I mentioned earlier, but I wanted to make a film with a completely different standpoint.
ES: Your films have been very well received in the West and the World Premiere of your latest film has proven this. When you’re making your films are you more conscious about how they will be received in the West or are you more conscious about your Asian audiences?
Miki Satoshi: The first viewer of my films is myself. I am making my films with the thought of what I would like to see. At the same time when ‘Adrift in Tokyo’ was released in various countries I started to think how my films would be ‘lived’. For example when I went to East Winds Film Festival in Coventry, I was thinking ‘what if one person out of 500 finds my film funny and interesting?’. So what affects my movie-making is the thought of how to make certain scenes in a way that would make even one person laugh.
Interview by Eva Spirova
http://cueafs.com/2013/04/udine-feff-15-interview-with-director-miki-satoshi/
Udine FEFF 15: ‘It’s Me, It’s Me’ (Japan, 2012) Film Review
Renowned comedy director Miki Satoshi’s 2012 film ‘It’s Me, It’s Me’ had its World Premiere at the 15th edition of the Udine Far East Film Festival on the Opening Night. Satoshi experiments with a different tone to his usual comedic outings with this darker, and at times, somber film which offers a bizarre premise.
J-pop heartthrob Kamenashi Kazuya has the unenviable task of playing over twenty roles in the film, albeit variant clones of lead character Hitoshi. What starts as an opportunist phone scam when Hitoshi steals a mobile phone from a fellow diner in a fast food restaurant turns into a schizophrenic crisis of identity, as he is confronted with over twenty different versions of himself as they try to figure out which one is the ‘real me’.
This outlandish initial premise is playfully executed; Satoshi makes good use of his multiple clones for comedic effect, as the doppelgangers riff on each other’s character traits. The split-screen is executed with style: with intricate set ups and seamless transitions, it is easy to forget that the characters interacting with each other are all played by the same actor. Kazuya acquits himself admirably in the comedy stakes, pulling off the twenty different versions of the same character, which range from a career woman, a policeman and onto a nerdy and awkward high school student.
It has been noted that Satoshi takes inspiration from Monty Python films, and although subtle, these similarities are noticeable in his previous films work, and ‘It’s Me, It’s Me’ is no exception. At times, the humour is almost slapstick, focusing on the peculiar behavior of the eclectic mix of characters, with another hilarious star turn from Satoshi’s wife Fuse Eri.
However, ‘It’s Me, It’s Me’ takes a somewhat surprising turn, moving into an altogether darker and introspective area, far removed from the knock-about comedy exchanges of the films opening first half. The film quickly becomes unsettling and disturbing as the clones begin to question their identity(es), the very nature of their existence, and embark upon a process of ‘deletion’, a veritable Hitoshi genocide, as they hunt and kill one another in search of the ‘original’ Hitoshi. Suitably, the laughs are dispensed with as the film offers a study into the nature of being, of subjectivity, and ultimately what we consider ‘individuality’.
Renowned as a comedy specialist, Miki Satoshi has taken quite a gamble with his latest film, a marked departure from the style and tone that has marked his films to date. Although the abrupt shift of tone in ‘It’s Me, It’s Me’ may not be to everybody’s taste, Satoshi has produced a film which is undeniably unique.
Review by Natasha Harmer
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