INDEX
Character Roles and Humming Tunes: How Versatility Added Flavor to the Work
While Kana neglects friends and lovers, she listens to the words of neighbors, showing that the characters are not simply defined. For example, Hayashi (Daichi Kaneko), who seems to clash frequently with Kana, also has the aspect of someone who never abandons her.
Yamanaka: From the moment each character was cast, I adjusted the dialogue and manner of speaking to fit the actors. This created some shifts in fixed perceptions of the roles. Hayashi could have been portrayed as a more unpleasant character, and at times, the script suggested that reading. However, through rehearsals with Kaneko, the dialogue evolved daily, reflecting his personality. Meeting Kaneko and thinking ‘What an interesting person’ led me to revise the script accordingly, so I believe his own qualities influenced the character.
The script evolved due to the influence of the actors’ performances.
Yamanaka: This time, unlike before, I didn’t want to confine the actors to a rigid framework that I had predetermined. I found that approach to filmmaking had become less enjoyable, so I wanted to better utilize the inherent qualities of the actors themselves.
That’s why everyone seemed to fit their roles so well. Did Yuumi Kawai’s portrayal change through rehearsals and filming?
Yamanaka: Kana is an ordinary person to me, but she’s a character who might be difficult for some to understand, so I was initially concerned whether Yuumi Kawai would be able to convey her. I also wanted to write something different from the roles Yuumi had previously played. Although I wrote the role with her in mind, I wasn’t sure how well she would fit.
However, from the very first read-through, her delivery felt like ‘This is exactly Kana!’ I was amazed, and that sense of amazement continued throughout the filming. I tend to want the dialogue delivered as written, but Yuumi’s portrayal of Kana, including her voice modulation and gestures, exceeded my expectations. It felt like we were capturing something beyond what I had originally imagined.
In the scene where Kana and her neighbor Hikari Toyama (Erika Karata) have a campfire together, the song ‘Camp da Hoi’ is heard, which was quite striking. Was that included in the script?
Yamanaka: Actually, there’s a very miraculous story about that. Before filming, we had a chance to check the setup for the campfire, and at that time, one of the art staff started humming ‘Camp da Hoi.’ I didn’t know the song and asked, ‘What’s that? Isn’t it ‘Maïm Maïm’?’ Half of the staff present knew the song, and half didn’t. So, the staff who knew it ended up singing it together.
Yamanaka： As I listened to it while sitting by the fire, I found the lyrics to be really great and felt that it perfectly captured the scene and the relationship between the two characters. I immediately thought, ‘I absolutely want to use this!’ After the shoot, I asked Yuumi Kawai and Erika Karata to memorize the song on the spot, and we used their very first take. Since it was their first time singing it, their voices were a bit unsteady, but remarkably, it fit the scene perfectly. When I saw the rushes, I was moved to tears by that scene.
