RING WANDERING director Masakazu KANEKO ©RW Production Committee
[日本語版は下にあります]
In the 2022 edition of the Nippon Connection Film Festival’s NIPPON VISIONS section, we are presenting Masakazu KANEKO’s film RING WANDERING.
Masakazu KANEKO, born in Tokyo in 1978, made 8mm and 16mm films while studying political science and economics. After graduation, he studied under Takahisa ZEZE at the Film School of Tokyo. He went on to make short films, commercials and his award-winning feature-length debut THE ALBINO’s TREES (2016), which was shown at more than 20 international film festivals. RING WANDERING (2021 / NC ’22) is his second feature-length film.
We thank Masakazu KANEKO for this interview.
RING WANDERING addresses multiple themes, from Tokyo’s war time history to the depiction of nature. What inspired you to create the film?
Around 2017 when I first conceived of this work, the city of Tokyo was being redeveloped in preparation for the Tokyo Olympics. It was a time when the scenery was completely changing.
When it comes to Tokyo, around the world people image a city where new buildings are lined up, but it naturally has a history of its own too. At the end of World War II, on March 10, 1945, more than 100,000 people lost their lives in a single night in an air raid on Tokyo, and some of their remains are still buried in the ground.
The city continues to renew its appearance as if past events had never happened, but I wonder what memories of those who once lived here are buried beneath the ground I step on everyday. The idea for the story was born out of me imagining this.
Why did you decide to make the Japanese wolf a key symbol? How does it connect past and present?
The theme of this film is “lives and memories that were once there but have been lost”.
The Japanese Wolf, which became extinct after the last eyewitness report in 1905 and whose existence has since been lost to Japan, truly symbolizes the very theme of this film.
At the same time, the way the Japanese wolf appears in this film represents the value of something important that is not lost but actually still exists somewhere in this world, and which we have lost sight of or have forgotten.
What were the biggest challenges and biggest joys during the production?
The most difficult part was to find a location to film the construction site where the bones are excavated. Due to safety regulations, you cannot get permission to shoot at construction sites. However, for this film, which deals with the topic of “memories buried under the ground in Tokyo”, this scene was absolutely necessary. So we kept looking for a location until the last minute.
What made me happy was that I was able to work with such a great group of actors.
Do you have any favorite directors, and if so, is there a particular reason why they’re your favorite?
The director Sergei Parajanov. I admire his allegorical style of depicting both big history and individual love in images as beautiful as paintings.
RING WANDERING
Japan 2021, 103 Min
at the 22nd Nippon Connection Film Festival
The complete program and tickets are available on the festival homepage.
Check out the trailer here!
『リング・ワンダリング』では、戦時の東京から自然の描写まで、数多くのテーマを取り扱っています。この映画のインスピレーションはどこから得られたのでしょうか。
本作の構想を始めた2017年頃は東京オリンピックに向かって東京の街が再開発され、風景が一変していく時期でした。
東京というと新しいビルが建ち並ぶ街、というイメージが世界的にありますが、そんな東京にも当然歴史があり、第二次世界大戦の末期、1945年3月10日の東京大空襲では一晩で10万人以上の人が命を落とし、その亡骸の一部は今も地中に埋まっています。
過去の出来事が無かったかのように街の姿が更新されていく中、私が普段踏みしめているこの地面の下にはかつて生きていた人たちのどんな記憶が埋もれているのか？そのことを想像したいと思ったところから、物語の着想が生まれていきました。
キーシンボルとして、ニホンオオカミを選んだ理由は何でしょうか。ニホンオオカミは過去と現在をどのように繋げるのでしょうか。
この映画のテーマは「かつてあったけど、失われた命や記憶」です。
1905年の目撃情報を最後に絶滅し、日本から存在が失われてしまったニホンオオカミは、正にこの映画のテーマそのものを象徴しています。
同時に本作でのニホンオオカミの登場の仕方は、「失われた」のではなく実は今もこの世のどこかにあるけど、私たちが「見なくなってしまった」「忘れてしまった」大切なものの価値を表わしています。
映画の制作にあたって、最も大変だったことと、一番嬉しかったことを教えてください。
骨が発掘される工事現場のロケーションを探すことが最も大変でした。工事現場は安全管理上、撮影許可が降りないのです。しかし「東京の地面の下に埋もれた記憶」を扱っている本作において、このシーンは絶対に必要だったので撮影ギリギリまで場所を探し続けました。
嬉しかったことは素晴らしい役者さんたちと一緒に仕事を出来たことです。
好きな監督はいますか。その理由を教えてください。
セルゲイ・パラジャーノフ監督です。絵画のように美しい映像を通じて、「大きな歴史」と「個々人の愛」を描き出す寓話的なスタイルを尊敬しています。
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