Japanese filmmaker explores the roots of human nature

Paul F. Agusta, Contributor/Jakarta

Among the many important guests at this year's JiFFest was Shinya Tsukamoto, a Japanese director cited as an inspiration by such renowned international filmmakers as Takashi Miike (Audition and Ichi the Killer) and Darren Aronofsky (Pi and Requiem for a Dream).

The Jakarta Post contributor Paul F. Agusta recently had the honor of sitting down and talking with this very affable and articulate filmmaker about his vision and approach to cinema.

Paul F. Agusta: What inspired you to make Vital?

Shinya Tsukamoto: It all began when I started to take more of an interest in my own body. I've always been fascinated with the body as a subject. Many people are disgusted by the subjects of anatomy or autopsies, but I've always been interesting in exploring this.

You wrote, produced, directed, art directed, shot and edited this film. Why do you use such a hands-on approach?

I love filmmaking and every aspect of it. I always try to do as much as I can, even down to distributing and designing my own posters.

Of your eight feature films, most have dealt with the human body. What keeps bringing you back to this?

It started during a visit to a bookstore a long time ago, where for no real reason, I purchased a book on anatomy. And then around 1995, there was an art exhibition that had a transparent plastic sculpture of the human body separated into several pieces.

When I saw this piece, it surprised me to see that I was not the only person interested in this subject. After that I met some people at a school of medicine, and I got a chance to witness an autopsy firsthand, and that made me even more certain that people would find this subject fascinating.

I felt that, above all, "Vital" was a love story, one that dealt with an interesting way of coping with loss. What made you want to use Hiroshi's dissection of Ryoko as a way to explore and deal with his grief from her death?

The two characters live in the sterile, nature-less environment of Tokyo and are numbed by this. Even when making love, they resort to choking each other in order to remind themselves that they are real, that they are alive.

Through the autopsy, the direct physical contact became a way to give the impression that deceased Ryoko was reaching out for one last intimate encounter with her living lover.

You mentioned erotic asphyxiation earlier. The interplay of violence and eroticism pop up in your work quite often. Do you think there is a relationship between the two? And what in the relationship are you trying to explore?

Violence and eroticism are generally attractive to audiences.

Aside from that, I feel that the people in Tokyo live in such a safe and organized environment that they need to be reminded of the existence of violence to remind them that it is real. As for the eroticism, we sometimes forget that it is an element of basic human nature, and we need reminding.

What led you to cast Tadanobu Asano as Hiroshi?

We've known each other for 10 years and I have always admired his personality and acting. We had joked around several times that he should be in one of my movies, but we had never found a suitable script.

Usually, I play the lead roles in my films myself, but this time the script called for someone younger, and I felt he was the only one who could play this role.

After the question and answer session with a local audience at the first screening of Vital at JIFFest, how did you feel they reacted to your film?

At first I thought that my film might be hard for the Jakarta audience to access because it was very Japan ... Tokyo-specific. However, a few members of the audience asked some really good questions, and seemed to really understand the premise.

On a lighter note, have you enjoyed your few days' stay in Jakarta?

My stay isn't very long. Yesterday I went to the fish market. Then this morning, I went to a kampong in Banten, and only there did I feel that I saw Indonesia. Jakarta is like Tokyo -- just a big city.

Seeing the children with such bright smiles, and the glow in their eyes made me feel what Indonesia is.