Arts & Entertainment

Ryusuke Hamaguchi says he is humbled by Kurosawa comparisons

Tokyo, Sep 12 (EFE).- Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who has just become the second Japanese film director to be awarded at the three major European film festivals and win an Oscar, said Tuesday that, despite feeling honored, seeing himself compared with Akira Kurosawa makes him uncomfortable.

“Hearing my name in the same sentence as that of the great Kurosawa makes me feel a little uncomfortable,” the filmmaker said at a press conference at the Tokyo Foreign Correspondents’ Club after returning from Venice, where his film “Evil Does Not Exist” was awarded the Grand Jury Prize.

The 44-year-old filmmaker has achieved this record in less than three years, which began with his premiere at the Berlinale with “Wheel Of Fortune And Fantasy,” and then dazzled in Cannes and the Oscars with “Drive My Car” and put the icing on the cake at the Venice Festival.

It took Kurosawa, a legend of Japanese cinema, 29 years to achieve this milestone, which Hamaguchi attributed to the late director’s longevity and of his films as well as the quality he was able to produce during those years adding that he aspires to do the same.

“When I think about my career, I wonder if something like this is even possible for me,” said the director, who added that Kurosawa is on “a totally different scale” to his.

Hamaguchi appeared next to the prize on the table accompanied by actor Hitoshi Omika, initially one of the drivers looking for locations for his most recent film but who ended up becoming the project’s protagonist.

“I don’t have much experience in front of the camera, but I think everything has been possible thanks to the good atmosphere of the team,” said Omika, adding that he has greatly enjoyed his time in Venice.

“Evil Does Not Exist” is a plea about the defense of nature through the story of Takumi and his daughter Hana, residents of a small town near Tokyo who one day discover plans to build a luxury campsite near their home. home.

The project arose from a request that Japanese singer-songwriter Eiko Ishibashi made to Hamaguchi about two years ago to create projections to accompany a live performance.

While she was researching to find exactly something that corresponded to what Ishibashi was looking for, the filmmaker thought that the material could be used to make a film and so they all got involved in the film project.

The process has been for him “a kind of musicians’ session (with Ishibashi), which has made it a very strange experience for me as a filmmaker,” as well as enriching, she said.

Hamaguchi also made the footage he was initially asked to do, which will be screened at an Ishibashi performance next month.

The singer-songwriter, who sent a message through the director, is “surprised and amazed” by the award in Venice. “The entire process has become an experience that I will always treasure,” she wrote in a letter shared by Hamaguchi. The director said he is happy with the good reception of his films.

From today’s Japan “I think we have been able to present alternative ways of making films and I think that is what international film festivals and the members of their juries have appreciated. And if this bet has gone well, that encourages me to continue with my work as a filmmaker,” he said.

Hamaguchi said he is working on a new project without giving details. EFE

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