Mr. Oshima and Kaurismäki.
Oshima-san, you have worked on Kaurismäki's works for a long time, and you have also created pamphlets and other visual productions in Japan. What was the first work you worked on?
When I was starting out, my first design was for "The Man Without a Past," I think it was 2003. I'm ashamed to say that I hadn't seen much before that, only "White Petals" and "Floating Clouds". But I like Jarmusch a lot, so I knew Kaurismäki himself, and I followed him from there. I think that Kaurismäki and Jarmusch have a lot in common.
How do you feel about Kaurismäki's works from your longtime experience with them?
Once again, I think Kaurismäki's films never change. He is a very taciturn director, so I have been involved with him like a seasonal worker in my career from when I was just starting out until now. So I feel like I am being tested at each moment. It's not so much about what is popular at the time, but more about applying my skills and sense of style at that time. To use an analogy, there is a ramen shop that has the same taste, but in fact, they change the taste little by little depending on the time and era. The structure of the pamphlet is also almost the same for all the films. Of course, it would be fine to change it, but I think it would be better to go this far, and there is a person who has been taking stills of Kaurismäki's films for a long time, and the stills are wonderful. The stills are just as great as the film itself. We will find a way to make the most of it.
Did your visit to Finland change your view of Kaurismäki's works in any way?
This was my second visit to Finland in seven years. When I visited Helsinki for the first time in a long time, I could see that the city has become more and more sophisticated. But the more sophisticated a city becomes, the more uniform it becomes. So I feel that it is becoming more and more difficult to find locations in Kaurismäki's works that remain the same, even when I only watch his films. I feel that it must have cost a lot of time and money, but the fact that they are still protected in the same way is enough to bring tears to my eyes. For example, I feel that ordinary scenes like the one I saw in "The Man Without a Past" in the past are very precious and lovely.
Did you get to see the saunas that are synonymous with Finland this time around?
I couldn't go. But there was something I keenly felt this time. Finnish culture is full of topics such as saunas, Scandinavian design furniture, and Moomins. But I felt that all of them were separated from each other. For example, there are no Moomin elements in Kaurismäki culture. I don't feel Scandinavian design in Kaurismäki films. Of course it is a design film, including the colors, but it doesn't feel modern and sophisticated. It was very strange to me to realize that each content exists independently and without any relation to each other. But maybe that is the interesting thing about Finland itself.
