Hirokazu Kore-eda: “Japanese feel an intimacy with the dead”

Director Hirokazu Kore-eda. Image courtesy of IFC Films.

“When making documentaries, the most important thing I learned was to listen, observe gestures and facial expressions,” Kore-eda told indieWIRE, referencing his past doc work such as “Without Memory” (1996). “It is important to watch facial expressions and see gestures in people’s ears and eyes. When I watch an actress say a line, I watch how they deliver the lines with gestures.”

Continuing, Kore-eda adds, “The situation in this film is itself fictional, but half of the mother’s lines came from my own mother. The story-line here isn’t from my life experiences directly, but it is nevertheless peppered with my past experiences.”

What may be surprising to American audiences - and fellow filmmakers - is that Kore-eda typically does not work with detailed scripts, though “Still Walking” was a relative departure to his typically loosely scripted approach to filmmaking.

“I made a film called ‘Distance’ (2001) that was very experimental. The actors had to improvise on the spot, but it was a bit of a handicap because I felt the actors were considering what I wanted from them, so I had duplicates of me running around the set - which wasn’t what I wanted. There’s a difference between people being free and the atmosphere of ‘freedom.’ So with ‘Still Walking,’ I said there would be no improvisation. When we weren’t shooting, I’d work with the actors and listen to their delivery. When I heard their voices their words would sometimes seem unnatural, so we’d change things, so there was a different kind of improvisation - a collaboration with the actors and me the director.”

While familial conflict and sibling rivalry are universal connections that cross cultural boundaries, the Japanese approach to death may be a bit surprising to American audiences. Every August, Japan celebrates “Obon,” a week-long holiday in which it is believed that deceased ancestors return home. Their presence in the home is enshrined with small altars, which are adorned with the favorite food and beverages enjoyed by the relative when alive. Though the family gathering in “Still Walking” takes place after Obon, the mother is convinced Junpei is present in the home when a small butterfly makes its way into the kitchen.

“The attitude toward the dead is different between Japan [and America],” observed Kore-eda. “The distance between the living and the dead is contracted. Japanese feel an intimacy with the dead, at least for people up to my generation.”

While “Still Walking” will open this coming weekend in Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C., Kore-eda’s most recent project, “Air Doll,” will have its North American debut soon after in the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival. The film, which had its world premiere in Cannes, is a 180 degree turn from “Still Walking.” “Doll” is a story about a blow-up doll that becomes a real person and abandons her status of simply a sex object. “This film is very different,” Kore-eda said directly. “I think some people will be surprised.”