Yielding to Love and Sexuality. Interview with Ryusuke Hamaguchi on the occasion of the release of "Coincidence and Imagination" directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi | feature

. how should the sex scene be projected?

From Episode 2, "Leave the Door Open.

In the second episode of "Coincidence and Imagination," "The Door is Left Open," I was surprised by the remarkable dialogue between the characters. Was it your decision to depict sex as a theme from the very beginning of the film's planning?

In a sense, "Coincidence and Imagination" was like a preparation for "Drive My Car," and I was somewhat conscious that the second episode in particular was a preparation for the sexual scenes in "Drive~. . On the other hand, I also wanted to be able to draw this kind of thing properly, and I think it was also a way of overcoming my weakness.

For example, "Adele, Blue is the Hottest Color" (Abdellatif Keshish, 2013) and other films that became popular for their graphic sex scenes were common in French cinema a few years ago, weren't they? Was there something you were aiming for in those existing films?

One belief I hold is that sex scenes in movies are basically not interesting at all. After all, there is no good camera position in a sex scene, and we can only watch the intertwined people from the side. The viewer can feel aroused by the scene by applying his or her own memories to it, but that is basically not interesting as a movie.

I think there are only a limited number of films that have succeeded in depicting sex scenes, such as "Ai no corrida" (Nagisa Oshima, 1976). Even "Ai no Corrida" is interesting not because we know it is a "real" scene, but because there is something in the faces of Tatsuya Fuji and Eiko Matsuda, a kind of determination that we can see. If that is the case, why not show the things that are said to arouse people, such as breasts and genitalia, and let them fully imagine them by concealing them? This is how I came up with the approach shown in this second story.

Incidentally, in the case of "Drive My Car," I decided to shoot the sex scene as if it were a conversation scene. He said that he would decide on the camera position so as to shoot the conversation scene with the mindset that we just happened to be having sex in the middle of a conversation.

The professor (Kiyohiko Shibukawa) and the student (Natsuki Mori) depicted in the second episode have, in a sense, an unbalanced relationship, don't they? The conversation between them was thrilling, as if they were walking on a tightrope.

. it was there. I was asking myself, "Is this okay? I was asking the producer for his opinion as I wrote, but as a result, I thought it would be good if I could achieve a total balance (laughs). (Laughs.) I think I wanted to walk a dangerous tightrope.

The starting point for the second story was when I heard from a university professor of my acquaintance that nowadays, because of the problem of harassment, the door to the laboratory must always be open for everyone to see, and in a way, it is safer for him as well. . Then a scene came to me. . there is something going on in the room, but on the surface, it seems to be nothing. But on the surface, it looks like nothing is going on, so people pass by the open door without a care in the world. There is suspense in the shot itself. The shot came to mind, and the story was conceived from the question of how to make this situation work.

Incidentally, when I make a feature film, I rarely come up with ideas from shots like this, or I forbid myself to do so, but I thought that the advantage of making short films for me was that I could genuinely experiment with how to shoot the shots that came to my mind in this way.

From Episode 2, "Leave the Door Open.

You wrote the text of the novel that appears in the play, didn't you, Mr. Hamaguchi?

Yes, it is. I was ashamed of what I had written (laugh), so I tried to be more euphemistic and use something completely different, but in the end, in order to create the suspense of the shot I mentioned earlier, the viewer had to feel a thrill of "No, no, you can't do that right there. In the end, in order to create the suspense of the shot that I mentioned earlier, I had to be direct in my choice of words. . The later development would not have been possible without such a clear and dangerous situation. That is why this is the way it is (laughs).

I was wondering if it is safe to do so, and I was so excited to see your films, but they always end up in a surprising place.

I would like to aim for a dangerous place. I want to depict people who are somewhat out of step with current morals and social norms, people who fall through the cracks. I feel that if I do not depict these people, I am not depicting reality.