INDEX
Avoiding unfamiliar themes, crafting films with own experience
– The protagonist of “DREAMING IN BETWEEN” (played by Ken Mitsuishi) is a high school vice principal in Kitakyushu, waiting for his forthcoming retirement. I heard Ninomiya’s father was the model of this character, and you already had Mitsuishi in mind even when writing this story?
Ninomiya: Mr. Mitsuishi has always been my favorite actor. From the very beginning of writing the script, I had decided that Mr. Mitsuishi would play the leading role.
When I thought about where to set the film with Mr. Mitsuishi in the lead role, I could not think of anywhere else but his hometown, Kitakyushu City in Fukuoka Prefecture. I also incorporated his memories that I heard from Mr. Mitsuishi into the script. I also incorporated the character of my own father, who was a teacher at a regular high school, as a setting for the story.
Imaizumi: He played the role of your father in “I Want You to Have Fun” and “Sweating the Small Stuff,” right?
Synopsis: Shuhei Suenaga is the vice principal of a regular high school in Kitakyushu. One day, Shuhei forgets to pay the bill at a teishoku-ya where his former student, Minami Hiraga, works. Suffering from memory loss, Shuhei tries to reexamine his past relationships in order to step into a new future.
Ninomiya: Yes. When I thought about how I could make the story of Shuhei, a man nearing his 60th birthday, into something that I could really feel and portray, I thought the best way to do it was to bring in my own father. I thought that would lead to a film that only I could make, and I could always interview him (laughs). From there, I wanted to depict the relationship with the family and the interaction with the young students.
Imaizumi: I see. I often get my ideas for the characters from people around me whom I know very well. For example, if I draw a school teacher without knowing him or her well, I tend to make him or her seem more dramatic than he or she really is. There is a possibility of making it look like an emotional human drama set in a regular high school. Like Yoji Yamada’s “School. I love that movie (laughs).
– When writing scripts, having someone close in mind solidifies your own story. The protagonist faces his life as his memory slowly fades away. This story came across as a modern version of Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 film “Living.”
Ninomiya: I have received several suggestions that I might have referenced “Living.” I wasn’t aware of it at all, so when I was told, I thought, “I see.
Imaizumi: The main character in “Living” confronts the issues of his life, death, and the time he has left after he gets stomach cancer. But Shuhei in “DREAMING IN BETWEEN” is ambiguous about the extent to which he is aware of his symptoms. He tries to repair his relationship with his family, but neither his wife Akiko (Maki Sakai) nor his daughter Yuma (Haruka Kudo) talk to him properly. Rather, at the beginning of the film, I think only my own father, who is in a nursing home, was able to listen to me in a way.
Ninomiya: I didn’t make any definite depiction of illness in the film, partly because I wanted to make it a “film about life” rather than focusing on illness. I also thought that forgetting is not only scary, but also a relief to forget.
Shuhei eats out at the restaurant where his former student Minami Hiraga (Minoru Yoshimoto) works, without realizing it. Shuhei realizes this, takes out his wallet, and then does what he does. That part was the first part I cherished in the script of this film.
