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Acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Chie Hayakawa, whose “Plan 75” earned a Camera d’Or Special Mention on the Cannes Film Festival, is again on the Croisette with competitors title “Renoir,” a coming-of-age drama set throughout Japan’s financial bubble of the late Eighties.
The movie follows Fuki, a unusual and delicate 11-year-old woman performed by newcomer Yui Suzuki, as she navigates a difficult summer season whereas dealing with a terminally in poor health father and a stressed-out working mom. The forged additionally options Hikari Ishida and Lily Franky in pivotal roles.
“Renoir” attracts deeply on Hayakawa’s private experiences of shedding her father throughout childhood. “I’ve been thinking to make this story since I was a teenager or in my early 20s,” Hayakawa tells Variety. “But if I had made this film when I was in my 20s, I would have focused more on the child and it could have been more depressed — too dark.”
The director believes her present perspective brings invaluable perception. “Now I’m about the same age as my mother and father at the time. I also have two kids, so I understand how parents live and what kind of mind they have. I feel more compassion to my parents now, and I have a different perspective on my past.”
Hayakawa particularly selected to set the story in 1987, throughout Japan’s financial bubble interval, seeing parallels with up to date society. “Back then, Japan’s economy was growing and growing. People had a lot of hope in our future and we had big adoration and respect for Western cultures,” she explains. “It was a consumption culture. Everyone was consuming everything and relationships between families were weakening. We were losing what was important to us and what’s real.”
The movie consists of symbolic parts that mirror this cultural second, together with a duplicate of a Western portray — the Renoir of the title — bought by the protagonist’s household. “You will see a little episode where the family buys a replica painting, which is fake, but it shows the emulation Japanese people had for Western art. Even though it’s fake, they’re satisfied with it,” says Hayakawa.
“Renoir” represents a big evolution in Hayakawa’s method to worldwide collaboration. Along with Japan’s Loaded Films, Happinet Phantom Studios, Dongyu Club and Kinofaction, the undertaking introduced collectively Singapore’s Akanga Film Asia, Arte France Cinema, Indonesia’s KawanKawan Media, and Philippine manufacturing firms Daluyong Studios, which beforehand co-produced Hayakawa’s “Plan 75,” and Nathan Studios, together with technical crew members from overseas. “In the development process, I had the benefit of feedback from producers from France and Singapore,” Hayakawa notes. “For production, I had sound recordists and boom operators from France participating in the entire shooting in Japan.”
This cross-cultural collaboration proved invaluable. “The way they work is very different, and technically, I think French sound technique is at a very high level. It was a very good learning opportunity for the Japanese crew,” she provides.
Working with youngster actor Yui Suzuki, who carries a lot of the movie’s emotional weight, proved surprisingly seamless for the director. “This was my first time working with a child actor, so I thought it would be very difficult. I expected her to need careful direction, but in fact, it turned out to be very easy because she performed naturally without much direction,” Hayakawa explains. “I didn’t really give her instructions on how to say dialogue or make facial expressions — she did it so naturally. My only direction was about physical movements.”
Veteran actor Lily Franky, who performs a key function within the movie, introduced a singular cinematic presence. “He was amazing,” Hayakawa says. “He was exactly the person I had in mind when writing the script. I always imagined him as the father. He has an eye as a director, so even just standing without saying anything, or sitting in a chair without any dialogue, it becomes cinema.”
With “Plan 75” and now “Renoir,” Hayakawa acknowledges she’s drawn to characters navigating isolation inside society. When requested if she’s consciously constructing a thematic trilogy, she displays, “Somehow, I’m very interested in solidarity of human beings, so maybe I will keep working on that theme.”
As for her place within the rising presence of Japanese cinema on the worldwide stage, Hayakawa is optimistic. “For the past two or three years, many new Japanese directors have been emerging, so I have a very positive feeling about Japanese cinema. We’re very aware of the problems in the Japanese industry, so we’re trying to make changes little by little.”
She sees her method to worldwide co-production as doubtlessly influential for different Japanese filmmakers. “Not many Japanese directors work with international co-productions, but little by little, more Japanese filmmakers are trying to make films this way. I think my case can be a good example of working with international production and targeting a global market. It gives people inspiration about how to make films beyond just focusing on the Japanese market.”