Akiko OKU, director of My Sweet Grappa Remedies, born in Yokohama in 1968, studied at Meiji University and at the Film School of Tokyo. Initially working in television, she directed her debut feature IGAITO SHINANAI in 1999. After that, she completed six other feature films, including TOKYO SERENDIPITY in 2007, MONSTER in 2013, and FANTASTIC GIRLS in 2015. Her film TREMBLE ALL YOU WANT premiered at Tokyo International Film Festival in 2017 and was chosen as the best film by audience vote. It went on to be featured at multiple international festivals, amongst them the Nippon Connection Film Festival 2018, where the comedy was screened in presence of the director. Her film MARRIAGE HUNTING BEAUTY was the opening film of the 2019 Nippon Connection Film Festival. We are very glad she took the time to answer our questions for our Guest in Focus series.
What was the biggest challenge while making your latest film?
I wanted to avoid making it too flashy. I devoted myself to carefully portraying the protagonist’s quiet and beautiful diary and her life. When we met and discussed the screenplay, ideas about creating an emotional climax came up, such as the protagonist experiencing some sort of heartbreak, or showing a scene where she visits her parents’ place. But I felt this would destroy the original novel’s qualities. I started talking about using the scene that I considered to be the most beautiful in the whole novel for the final scene, and from empathizing so much with the protagonist, I suddenly started crying like an idiot. It was really embarrassing. Jiro, the author of the novel and of the movie script, kept pointing his finger at me and was laughing his head off – but he agreed with me: “You’re right. Just carefully connecting her uneventful day-to-day life, it might turn into something amazing.”
How did the current crisis impact your work as a filmmaker?
I was in the middle of shooting a new movie. We had to stop when the state of emergency was declared in Japan. Hopefully we can resume our work soon but the question is how to shoot the remaining scenes. In the end, they will be scenes that I, as someone who experienced this Corona crisis, create with other people in mind who also experienced this Corona crisis. There’s no way the remaining scenes won’t be affected in any way. The shooting conditions also became hard due to safety issues. I do not want to take this as an obstacle but as a new creative opportunity: Wait and see, I’ll show you scenes you’ve never even imagined before!
How do you view the image of women in current Japanese cinema?
It depends on the movie, so it’s hard to generalize. Even when I’m watching a really amazing movie, it still happens that I’m irritated because the way it portrays women seems like too much of a fantasy. Such as depictions of women where I want to shout: “You wouldn’t undress at that time”, or where I think “No way someone would utter these words” and so on. Some movies are simply brilliant, but can sadly still have these parts that seem wrong. I have certainly had enough of the image of women who “play evil games with men”. I’m a woman. I’ve never lived a different life than this life as a woman. Therefore, in movies I search for images of women that I want to see, and the images of women I create are the visions of women and images that I would want to see myself.
MY SWEET GRAPPA REMEDIES
Japan 2019, 107 min
Watch the film HERE from June 9 to 14, 2020
at the 20th Nippon Connection Film Festival
Check out the trailer!
今回の映画制作・撮影中での一番大きいなチャレンジは何でしたか?
派手な事件は起こさない、ということ。主人公の静かで美しい日記、その暮らしを丁寧に描くことに専心しました。シナリオ打ち合わせの席で、何かエモーショナルな盛り上がりを作るために主人公を一度失恋させてみては、とか、実家へ旅するシーンを作っては、といったアイデアも出ました。しかし、それをしてはこの原作の良さが消えてしまう気がしました。その席で私は、原作の中で特に美しいと思った部分をラストシーンにしたいと話しているうちに、主人公に感情移入しすぎて馬鹿みたいに泣いてしまいました、あーお恥ずかしい。しかし原作者であり今回の脚本を担当したじろうさんがそんな私を指差してゲラゲラ笑いながら、「確かに、何も起こらない日常を丁寧につなげることですごい面白いものになるかも」と乗ってくれました。
今回の危機はあなたの映画人としての仕事にどのように影響を与えましたか?
撮影中だった新作は、日本の緊急事態宣言のもとで中断しております。
近々再開できそうですが、残りのシーンをどう撮るか。コロナ禍を経験した私が、同じくコロナ禍を経験した人たちに向けて撮ることになるシーン。影響を受けないはずはない。撮影条件も安全上の問題から厳しくなった。これを足枷と捉えず、新しいクリエイティブのチャンスと捉え、以前では想像もしなかったシーンを撮ってやるぜ、と息巻いております。
現在の日本映画界での女性像をどう見られますか?
作品ごとによるので一概には言いがたいが、凄く面白い映画を見ても、どこか一部、女性の描き方がファンタジーすぎたりと違和感を覚えることがある。そんなタイミングで服は脱がないよ、そんな言葉は決して吐かないよ、と突っ込みたくなる女性像。せっかく面白い映画なのにそこだけ残念だったという作品がある。「男の悪ふざけ」に見えてしまう女性像はもうお腹いっぱい、という気分です。私は女性であり、女性としての人生しか送ったことがないので、この私が見たい女性像を映画に探してしまうし、私が作り出す女性像も自分が見たい女性像になっている。
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