My movie ASHITA

ASHITA in Japan

2008-12-04T20:14:00.001-08:00

Well I am back from my month in Japan. While there I had the pleasant news that a Kitakyushu theatrical company known as BeniShoga will mount my play FALLEN LEAVES in August 2009. More on that in the coming weeks.

One of my intentions during my trip to the land of the rising sun was to show the 30 minute preview DVD to as many people as possible. As you loyal readers know, I was a little apprehensive about what impressions the homeland Japanese would get from this Canada-jin making a movie in their language. The few that saw it received it well. Someone even commented that it was better than Kill Bill. The common reaction Ashita gave was that the characters said many "un-Japanese" things--which is very true. As the film is not intended to be about Japanese people, it is about people in general. It was shot in Toronto and at the outside most, some of the characters are Japanese living in a foreign land. Living in a city like Torono would certainly affect anybody's personality... I am rather pleased with the response Ashita garnished and it has renewed an excitement in me for the film to complete in 2009.

My second week there, the family got sick so we were unable to travel to Tokyo to see our friends there. I was looking forward to meeting Don Matsuo, singer for the rock band The Zoobombs, as it had been about a year since I had seen my friend and his family when they came on tour in Canada. I know that Don had been excited about seeing his music being used in Ashita. As well, my lovely wife Izumi was in Tokyo earlier on and stayed with Sayaka, the singer of Super Girl' Juice, Izumi was even lucky enough to catch them live--unfortunately it was all before I arrived. I wanted to show Sayaka the footage as well, as we shot part of the film while she was visiting Toronto. Oh well, my friends in Tokyo will just have to wait for the premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

I did get a chance to see Maki, our hair stylist. She was nice enough to come to Kyushu to see us. We met in Kokura and I was able to show her the 30 minutes on a portable DVD player siting outside of Kokura Castle (so far that is my favorite place to screen a movie, sitting outside an ancient Samurai castle built in 1602 while drinking a couple of Asahi beers).

I got the chance as well, to visit the Akira Kurosawa Museum, which inspired me--I will write an entry on that at a later point.

I have much stress about this little experiment known as Ashita. It may all just work out.

The Auteur and The Filmmaker

2008-10-17T08:38:00.001-07:00

Wong Kar-Wai is a true auteur. He makes his movies, completely on his terms. His films are deeply poetic and visually stunning. Larry Gross of Sight & Sound magazine says: "The first time you see Wong Kar-Wai’s movies, you feel you are watching the work of a delicious visual mannerist indifferent to narrative structure....The sheer hedonistic absorption in architectural surfaces, in light sources, in decor of every possible fabric and material, and the absence of overtly literary seriousness in the plots, make you feel trapped in the world of a super-talented hack. Then you go back and take another look, and the movies change, more drastically than any I know of. They seem richer, more intricately organized, more serious...”

Much like Leonard Cohen’s work I first experience Wong Kar-Wai in my mid-teens when I first decided to go into filmmaking. In my time at CUTV, working on my first ever production, a puppet show known as Paradites, I had met a man by the name of King, he was of Hong Kong origin, he was quite knowledge about cinema and he is the one who first introduced me to Hong Kong cinema. This was in the early and mid-1990s before the names John Woo, Jackie Chan and Jet Li were household names in the white people world. I was ravaged through all the HK films he lent me, often watching three or four films in a row. I went to film school with movies like John Woo’s The Killer and Hard Boiled burnt into my brain, highly stylized yet melodramatic at the same time. Nothing in American “action” movies had come close to these masterworks. Around that same time, the Fantasia Film Festival was launched in Montreal. The festival would feature predominantly Asian action films and Japanese anime. Finally I could prove to my chums in film school that I was not crazy, that these films belong on their own plateau. I attended many films that first festival year with King. One day he brought me a VHS copy of Chungking Express. I was expecting another action movie, however what I got was a super stylized melodrama. It blew my mind. It was incredible. It was like nothing else I’d ever seen. I re-watched the movie two more times in a row. To me, it was an almost perfect poem on screen. The camera work and aesthetics of the film were the true work of a master, I had no seen color used like that since Hitchcock or Kubrick. The truth is, in film school you learn (at least when I was there) that a good film never lets the audience be aware of the
camera, which is a theory that is thrown out the window with a lot of work from Hong Kong. John Woo stylized action cinema, Wong Kar-Wai re-stylized cinema. Wong Kar-Wai humbly describes his style: “People are always very curious about the visual effects in my works. The not so romantic truth is that lots of those effects are in reality the results of circumstantial consideration: if there is not enough space for camera maneuvering, replace the regular lens with a wide-angle lens; when candid camera shooting in the streets does not allow lighting, adjust the speed of the camera according to the amount of light available; if the continuity of different shots does not link up right for a sequence, try jump cuts; to solve the problem of color incontinuity, cover it up by developing the film in B/W… Tricks like that go on forever.” Even his use of voiceover, which had been portrayed as the anchor of a weak story, is used in such a way that it adds to the grace and beauty of his films. They lend to the story as well as the music. His work is stylized, but not empty.

The way Wong Kar-Wai tackles romance and love on screen is much like Cohen tackles it in his work. In Wong’s work, the possibility of love is as beautiful as it is problematic. Its almost like his characters want to be in love, they just happen to fall in love at an inconvenient time. He explores themes that state that people, even though in very close physical proximity, can be so far apart. His ability to isolate his characters and present them as social outsiders. His imagery of large urban centers as alienating, lonely places are really what attract me to his work. Ashita is a film about people in city. Lonely, depressed, desperate people. Can I paint the picture like Wong the auteur. Probably not. But I can hope to.

Thank you Mr. Wong.

The Poet and The Filmmaker

2008-10-17T07:19:00.001-07:00

Every artist has an influence or a number of influences. I’ve always felt that I have a poetic spirit—maybe its my romantic Italian roots, but with experience I see my art going in the direction of the understanding of the soul and the meaning of humanity. So its no surprise that two artists I greatly admire are Leonard Cohen and Wong Kar-Wai.

I will write two entries one dedicated to the world’s best known poet, Leonard Cohen and one dedicated to cinema’s best know poet Wong Kar-Wai.

Maybe I feel a special connection to Leonard Cohen because he is a fellow Montreal native. Maybe its because, deep down, his words, both in songs and on paper, bring such vivid imagery to mind. I first discovered Leonard Cohen in my mid-teens just as he was releasing his album The Future. I has known of Cohen, but never experienced his work first hand until I bought the album. I was blown away by every aspect of The Future. When I entered college, there was a plaque commemorating Cohen. I had a number of professors who had known Cohen—at the time they had lost touch with him because he had gone into seclusion to become a Zen Buddhist monk.

Cohen’s work is marked by themes of love, sex, religion, psychological depression. Most music, of course, is about these things. But the way Cohen writes and presents them is much deeper and more complex. He is a story teller as much as a poet. He, like all writers, writes about what he knows and what he has experienced. He knows heartbreak, from his many relationships and affairs—including one with Janice Joplin. He knows about depression—true psychological and unsentimental depression. He suffers from chronic depression, though less so in his old age. His early work is marred with references to suicide and loneliness—his later work is less depressed, however has many references to social justice to the chaos that fills life of most American and North American cities.

I can relate to a lot of his references, almost six years ago while in post production of my second film Truant Café I suffered through a depression. While recovering, I was commissioned to produce a TV pilot for LIFE Network. While making the pilot, I almost slipped back into my depression because I was under an enormous amount of pressure and severely tight deadline. Humanity was slipping away and I did not like the person I had become. Worst of all, I was no longer having fun with my productions—I think the fun stopped when I was working on Truant Café, I was obsessed with success. Like Leonard Cohen said: “Life got a whole lot easier when I no longer expected to win.” His comment, full of joy and lamentation, which can only come from him, can best describe where I am now in my life. I want to explore the human soul. I want to explore the things that made me depressed and the things that remove joy from people’s lives. I want to explore the dark places people hide their worst thoughts. Why do people hurt each other when they know what pain does? Why do people lie when they know it is futile? Are humans foolish or innocent? Why are we frightened to admit we’re lost? My hope, is that Ashita explores some these questions and provides its own unique perspective on them.

Thank you Mr. Cohen.

The Big CITY

2008-10-16T10:37:00.000-07:00

My movie Ashita is about loneliness, its also about life in the city. Living in a big city breaks you more often than it makes you. I’ve been living in Canada’s biggest city for just over 6 years and it gets shockingly more disturbing every day. I can’t read the paper or look at the news without seeing a random act of insanity—I know what you’re thinking, bad news sells. This may be true on some morbid level, however there’s bad news and then there’s sheer madness. I can accept that in any given city there is crime and violence. But what shocks me is the volume of random violence, teenagers killing the school mates for fun or a man who beats a stranger he’s never met to death with a brick. Teenaged parents leaving their unwanted newborn baby in shopping mall parking lot in the dead of winter. These are signs of an ill city. Signs of, maybe, what the city does to people. Maybe deep down, I am fed up with the city, fed up with the constant feeling of depravity and frustration. Maybe I want out.

The way I create a project is through observation. And in a city like Toronto, there is a lot of observation to be done. I look at people and try to guess what’s in their mind and in their life and from there, the story grows. Sometimes I get depressed doing this, so many sad faces in the crowd, so many complex souls. The question that still drives my creative juices is: Why? Why, with all the opportunities, with all the advantages, with all the culture, with all the options available in big cities do people remain frustrated, stoic and frightened? Do the lies, corruption and general nihilistic sense outweigh the good of the city. Maybe it’s the uncertainty of the city that bites at people. Maybe it’s the sheer size of the unknown in the city’s façade that causes undue rest.

I’ve never pictured myself living anywhere but a big city, stating that the quiet of rural suburbia frightened me. That’s beginning to change, maybe its age, maybe it’s the fact that I am now a father or maybe its both. I often toy with the idea of living somewhere quiet and exploring my secret passion—cooking. I doubt I will ever stop creating, maybe I will make more films, maybe I will write a novel or write poetry. All I know is that not only did I make a movie about what the big can do to people, maybe I am beginning to understand living in a big city. Maybe understanding the city means its time to leave the city.

The Good, The Bad, The Leone

2008-09-11T15:21:00.001-07:00

When you think about influential filmmakers names like Kurosawa, Hitchcock, Fellini, Welles, Kubrick and Ford, pop up. But rarely is the name Leone ever included with these greats. Maybe because he made only 6 movies or the fact that his movies were categorized as Action Westerns (with the exception of his final film Once Upon a Time in America). The truth is, Leone has had a major influence on cinema and many great directors including: Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorcsese, Quentin Tarantino, George Lucas, Sam Peckinpah and even Stanley Kubrick (for Barry Lyndon).

Leone remains one of my personal favorites, the Man With No Name trilogy (especially The Good, The Bad and The Ugly) and Once Upon in the West stand out as two of my favorite movies of all time. When Leone’s work first came out, much like many great filmmakers, his work was misunderstood and misrepresented. Thanks to a lot of young filmmakers who took an interest in his visual style and character representations he slowly grew to legendary status. Leone pioneered a lot of things in cinema like his use of extreme close-ups, ultra fast zooms (known as the Italian Zoom), the “Mexican Standoff” (this is where three men point a gun at each other) as well as his use of Ennio Morricone’s score (Composer Ennio Morricone once said that Leone asked him to compose a film's music before the start of principal photography, which of course, is contrary to normal practice. He would then play the music to the actors during takes to enhance their performance).

During his childhood, growing up in Mussolini’s Rome, Leone was obsessed with American popular culture and American movie stars. He describes his first encounter with an American (a soldier during WWII): “In my childhood, America was like a religion…Then, real-life Americans abruptly entered my life – in jeeps – and upset all my dreams…I found them very energetic, but also very deceptive. They were no longer the Americans of the West. They were soldiers like any others…materialists, possessive, keen on pleasures and earthly goods.” This may explain the unique aspects of his films. His movies are rich in historical detail, however, his vision of the less than pure hero was uncommon in Hollywood and America. His cowboys, who urinated in public, spat, raped and seemed as interested in other’s opinions as they were interested in their own personal hygiene. Until Sergio Leone came around, Hollywood Westerns had always invoked a dream of freedom and adventure always with a happy ending. In Leone’s view, the West was a violent and mythical landscape where a man could determine his place in the world with the skills he had in operating his gun or ticking his enemy. What is most interesting about Leone’s Westerns is that they carry certain essential truths about the American foundation in a way that no American film can. Author Christopher Frayling best describes it: “Leone's films contain no universal moral messages (as many Hollywood Westerns have claimed to), and his heroes are not intended to set an example for today.” Instead Leone showed us ugly and violent acts with a wonderful, unglamorous simplicity.

I love his work. I’ve always been influenced by his style of cinematography and his ability to move a story forward with no use of words. While making my film Ashita, I watched his Man with No Name trilogy to try and harness some of his energy in my work. In one of the early opening scenes of the film, I use an Italian Zoom as a homage to his work, and I use an abundance of Extreme Close Ups as well. And like Leone, I hope to explore society and humanity from the perspective of an outsider looking in.

Politics and Art

2008-08-28T10:23:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago I was over at Andy’s place for a meeting with our new post production team on TV was the Democratic National Convention. Of course there aren’t many people who don’t know Barack Obama, and there are a lot of people who would like to see him become the next President of the Unites States.
The next day, we Canadians were informed that we would be voting for our country’s leader this coming autumn as well. Unfortunately, we don’t have any interesting or electrifying candidate like Obama running in our election. Oh-oh he’s talking politics, quick let’s leave the blog. Wait, don’t go! Seriously, I’m leading into something on film.
I was never into politics, I never really understood it and it never really affected me. And to be honest, I voted only once in my life. I always thought that no matter what joker was in power my life would ultimately remain the same as the quality of life went down and the cost of living went up. Recently though, (here’s the stuff on film—see I didn’t lie) our wonderful politicians in Ottawa began introducing wild ideas like Bill C-10 which made me start paying attention to who runs my country. The Bill is best described in the words of CBC as “an omnibus bill amending the Income Tax Act and contains a series of amendments affecting a variety of different industries, funds and individuals… The issue that concerns Canada’s film and television community is Section 120, which would allow the Heritage Minister (currently Josée Verner) to withdraw tax credits from productions determined to be ‘contrary to public policy.’” If you’re thinking that this sounds like censorship, well you’re thinking like a lot of film and TV people in Canada. Basically, the Heritage Minister would create a set of guidelines (the guidelines are yet to be established—because its always better to pass a Bill while it still hasn’t been fully thought out) to be monitored by committees within the heritage and justice departments. These guidelines would surely cover such things as violence, hatred, drug usage, racism and sexual content. So I guess we can’t make any after school specials in Canada. Of course the minister said: “Bill C-10 has nothing to do with censorship and everything to do with the integrity of the tax system. The goal is to ensure public trust in how tax dollars are spent.”
My opinion is a simple, either tax dollars go to art or they don’t. You can’t pick and choose what gets it and not, artists have a hard enough with that from the private sector with corporate sponsors who don’t want to damage their image by be associated with a specific type of artistic message. If the government does that any unique voices in the Canadian film industry will be destroyed. Besides, a truly insane person (and there are one or two of those in this country) will take offense to almost anything—in fact a quick Google search will give you interesting results who find such Canadian milestone children’s shows like Mr. Dressup and The Friendly Giant as offensive and not suitable for children. So, with this wonderful melting pot that is my country how can a government committee decide what goes against the entire public’s interest? An Afghani news show on cable that depends on grants to survive may be found offensive by a little old conservative racist white lady out west or an internationally acclaimed movie like C.R.A.Z.Y. from Quebec, which deals with drug use and homosexuality, may be offensive to a housewife somewhere in the Maritimes. But you know what? Canada is all of this. Like it our not, Canada is Muslim as it Jewish, Christian and everything else. Canada is gay as it is straight. The idea that the government can decide what kind art and ergo what type of thinking our tax dollars finance is false. No other country has such silly ideas where the government tells its people what is best for them… oh wait, China does that… as do Cuba and North Korea.

Maybe I will pay quite a lot of attention to this next election.

Its a Mad Mad World

2008-08-15T10:54:00.000-07:00

Recently I discovered Mad Men, I bought the box set thanks to a gift card I received from my friend Kirsty—and I literally bought it blind. I had no idea what the show was about, or I fit was any good. I was impressed, very impressed. It is an incredible show with all the subtleties of the era in which is takes place. Watching Mad Men is a lot like watching an old movie from the 1960s the pacing, the cinematography all reminiscent of the era. The thing about Mad Men, they don’t hold anything back from the shovenist era. Much like one of my favorite films, Chinatown (1974 directed by Roman Polanski starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway) everybody in the show smokes and drinks. Men smack women, women use men and everybody has a dirty little secret. Funny, that sounds a lot like Ashita. Mad Men is yet another affirmation that I am not insane (and me looking forward to the padded cells and the three square meals a day of the funny farm). I was a little weary when making Ashita, I had been getting a lot of comments about the level of alcohol and tobacco consumption seen in the film. Literally, every character smokes and drinks in the film. Andy, the editor, and I were joking about how we will go down as the worst influence on young minds in cinema history (cool). Of course, most of my characters are women with a contemporary setting, so I can’t hide behind the “it was the 60s that what everyone did” banner. Instead I will hide behind the “they’re Japanese that’s what they do” banner.
When I was in Japan a few years ago, everywhere I went 80% of people smoked and more than that drank actively. Simply put, it’s a way of life for the Japanese. Maybe they’re not as “health enlightened” as us North Americans or maybe they just don’t care. So when making a movie about Japanese I needed to incorporate their character traits. And besides most people who are troubled or lonely tend to smoke and drink anyway. Don’t get me wrong I smoke cigars on occasion and I am a social drinker (long live the Irish Car Bomb) but I, honestly, take offence when someone comments that my film will promote smoking and drinking. If the message a view gets when the see someone smoke or drink on the screen is that smoking and drinking is cool, well then they’re in the wrong part of the ball park (unless you’re watching things like Pineapple Express or Cheech and Chong, which are movies about casual self medication). My hope is that when you see Ashita and see my characters, their cigarettes and booze will fit in naturally with their characters. These are lonely, sad and depressed characters it is natural for them to seek some kind of dependence (oddly enough the one who doesn’t smoke has become dependant on adultery).
My point is simple, as a filmmaker I would never glorify anything or put anything in my film simply because it looks cool, that is for the young and foolish. It is progresses the story, enhances the character or makes a statement about the character then it should be used. Much like violence, I would never put in a violent scene just to put one in. For example in one of Ashita’s stories “The Gift” the Toshio character violently smacks his wife. I’ve seen the edited scene a number of times now and Andy and I have the same view, the smack needs to be brutal and, believe me, it is. The reason it has to be brutal is because it needs to show people the sheer destructive nature of domestic violence. There is nothing pretty about that scene, nor is there anything pretty about a man who hits his wife. Like Roman Polanski once said: “You have to show violence the way it is. If you don't show it realistically, then that's immoral and harmful. If you don't upset people, then that's obscenity.”
It’s the same with smoking, drinking or sex. These are all things that may intrude on people’s sensitivities, but if they say something in art, then the artist should not be afraid to hide them. Filmmaking is art. Art is interpretive. No matter what it is, art always risks offending and always risks being disliked. That’s the nature of the beast.

Shooting Can Be Fun

2008-08-08T10:43:00.000-07:00

In reading the July issue of American Cinematographer it was nice to read about the shooting of The Dark Knight, probably my favorite film of the year and one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. Though some of you may disagree with me, I connected with the style and look of the film. To me it mixed a lot of experimental and classical elements of filmmaking together into what is a visually assaulting piece of storytelling. The Dark Knight was shot on 35mm film with some sequences shot in IMAX (a Canadian invention, thank you very much), which is something that has never been done before.
For those of you who know me, know that I am a big fan of trying new things and its nice to see a studio like Warner Bros. taking a chance with such a costly experiment. Those who have seen the film in IMAX (if you haven’t you should) will attest to the sheer beauty of the scenes. I love what the movie’s cinematographer, Wally Pfister, said about shooting in IMAX: “We just needed to shoot and learn…There’s a whole booklet about how to film in Imax, but our inclination was to break all those rules. In the end, we incorporated some of the ideas to a degree, but for the most part, we did what felt right to us and addressed composition shot-by-shot.” Which, to me, is refreshing and it’s a great learning point for me and any aspiring filmmaker out there. Anybody can take a film class, anybody can read American Cinematographer or any book on how to shoot a movie—and odds are if you learn that way, you will be able to shoot a movie—a rather generic looking movie, but a movie nonetheless. In all my films I teach myself how to shoot all over again. I often try to keep my film education as far away as possible when I approach shooting a movie. I want the approach for everything I do to be completely different and unique. Ashita was probably my effort at learning to shoot. First, I was shooting in PAL for the first time (more on PAL some other time) and I was shooting entirely at night, which are both two things I’ve never done before. I watched a lot of film noir along with a lot of films that inspire me, but I wanted to craft my own look for the film. A look of loneliness in the big city. Andy, Ashita’s editor, once commented that I really enjoy solitary people in big spaces—and for Ashita I do—it’s a look that I wanted.
Actually I never intended on shooting the film myself, I had originally hired a cinematographer and after the first two days of shooting, we let him go—it was both a combination of lack of visual style and paying too much of the wrong type of my attention to my all female, all Japanese cast members. When I came to the painful realization that I had to do my own camera work as well as work with actors in a language I don’t speak, I got rather ill. To overcome those very obstacles I had to preplan even more than I normally do. Some people story board, some people don’t story board (for The Meatball Story I didn’t story board, for Truant Café I did) in the case of Ashita, I decided to do a detailed shot list and literally cross off the shots right after I did them. What was almost unconscious about my shooting of Ashita was the beauty of some of the shots. My office is located downtown Toronto, so I often spend an hour or more a day walking through the streets of downtown—which is pretty much how I did my location scouting for Ashita. Most of the exteriors for the film are shot using existing light from the locations, which turned out surprisingly well. Before I shot I went to each location at night with my camera and looked through the viewfinder to get an idea of what my shot would look like. Some of the shots in Ashita are truly majestic. What’s funny in reading the American Cinematographer article on The Dark Knight, was how Wally Pfister and director Chris Nolan first tested the IMAX camera in Nolan’s backyard and then to test the night shots they put it in the back of a pick up truck and drove down Sunset Blvd. It must be nice to be able to test a $3 000,000 camera in your back yard and then put in your flatbed and drive around with it!

An Interesting Conversation

2008-07-07T10:32:00.000-07:00

Recently, I was interviewed by Chris Magee, the creator and Japanese film guru of The Toronto Japanese Film Appreciation Pow-Wow, a group of Japanese film aficionados of over 500 people. Chris met with Andy and I one day while were cutting Ashita (you can read Chris’ article on Ashita here: http://jfilmpowwow.blogspot.com/2008/06/mj-di-rocco-takes-on-challenge-with.html --in fact if your at all interested in Japanese movies, which you may be, if you’re interested in my film, you should check this site out) To me, the ultimate sign that I am not losing my mind making these films I make is when people whom I’ve never met take an interest in what I am doing. Which is, case in point, the result of Mr. Magee’s article on Ashita. A young gentleman by the name of Ben Dower contacted me through Chris with his own dreams of making a Japanese movie in Toronto—bringing the total of gaijin nut jobs who want to make Japanese language movies to 2! Still, though, the boat is a little less lonely now that Ben came aboard.

Ben and I have exchanged a few emails in which he’s asked me a few questions and my advice on making a Japanese movie in Toronto. Honestly, like Andy and I discussed with Chris, I’ve never really met anybody who’s done what we’re doing with Ashita, so we kind of invented the rules and processes as went along.

Below are some of the interesting points of our email conversation:

BEN: What interested me with you and Ashita is that you managed to make a film entirely in Japanese and about Japanese people in Toronto (which is something I'd very much like to do).

MJ: Thank you, I take that as a high compliment.

BEN: I just graduated from Confederation College's film production program. I am now trying to figure out where (and how) to to take the next step from here.

MJ: I can appreciate your situation. Throughout film school , not once do they really teach marketing, financing, management or any of the business skills you would need in order survive in the real world trying to make a film. Any sensible person knows (or quickly learns) that when you graduate film school nobody will hire you as director. More than likely, you are working as a 3rd AD wrangling extras or some other fun stuff.

BEN: It is true that very little film business is taught in film school. I had one course in the last semester on film business but I could tell the teacher just did not have enough time in this course to cover the information properly.

MJ: I can see not much has changed in films schools over years.

BEN: I am just out of film school and the only experience I have is on student films. I want to know what the best way is, in Toronto, to go from this point in my life to making the films I want to make...films that I write and direct.

MJ: Again, I can appreciate your situation. I have been there too. The best advice I can give you here is that if you really, really want to make your own films--if you want to make your stories, your way--well you need to do it on your own. Get yourself a half decent camera, join LIFT find a good cast and crew and just shoot it. When I say find a good crew I mean find a crew that wants to be crew and not directors (you've been to film school I am sure you understand what I mean in that statement). Find a DP that just wants to shoot and do pretty lighting. Find a sound guy that eats and breathes sound. And more importantly find a good editor who loves to cut and build stories through cutting (editors should never be 'yes' men that agree with everything you say, trust me on this one. You want an editor who is a free thinker and will surprise you.) But most importantly, you need patience. If you make a film for next to no money or no money at all, you will have to accept and understand that it is a longer process than if you had millions to throw at your crew. And if you work in a language you don't speak fluently, it will take you even longer--but if you believe in what your doing and you respect the integrity of the filmmaking process, then it will be a good final product.

(What I didn't mention to Ben, but I will mention here--when you work independently, what really counts are the people you work with. Find some good people, people who are passionate and excited about making a movie, like I did with Ashita, and that is a good first step in the right direction.)

BEN: I want to know how you were able to get such a project to be made. How did you get to the point in filmmaking where you could actually do that? I know many studios wouldn't fund this sort of experimental project because it probably be considered a large risk for the studio. Are you doing it independently, out of your own pocket, did you manage to secure funding, or did you get a government grant?

MJ: I am doing it independently. I've done enough work over the years to get all my own equipment. I did a TV pilot for LIFE Network a few years ago and managed to gather my equipment from that. Studios rarely give money to anybody and usually whatever budget you give them will be cut in half or even more by the time its green lit. Government grants are always fun to try and figure out, you have a lot of forms to fill out and it takes several months before they respond to you.

BEN: Did you shoot on film, HD, or tape?

MJ: We shot the film on PAL DV tapes--I love the colors on PAL and it looks much nicer than any 24fps (PAL is 25fps) camera out there. HD is nice, but the pro-sumer technology is not quite there yet. True HD cameras cost upwards of $15 000 and give a bitch of a time on hard drive memory on any editing system. By the way in case you're curious we're editing on AVID.

BEN: My current plan is to get a job at some place , make some money, buy some gear, and then shoot some films on my own.

MJ: Good plan. Honestly, I think you will appreciate what goes into making a film if you have to work elsewhere to pay for your film. It will make you a better, more appreciative filmmaker and producer.

BEN: I really like the DVX100 since Sion Sono used it for "Noriko's Dinner Table" and I love the way that movie looked. I know they aren't insanely expensive so I am going to start there I think (if you know any equally good/better cameras that are equally/lesser priced please let me know).

MJ: I don't know of any other cameras, I think JVC does a nice 24p HD camera for a pretty cost effective price. Let me level with you, I see far too many film grads spend money on equipment and then they shoot utter crap. A good camera does not make a good film. It may help it to look pretty but it will not help with the substance and the story, nor will it teach you to shoot. Buy what you can afford--your real focus should be on the story and the acting because nothing is worse than bad acting in super high definition. I have never seen Noriko's Dinner Table, I will take your appreciation of it as a recommendation and I will check it out.

BEN: My current plan is to get a job at some place , make some money, buy some gear, and then shoot some films on my own.

MJ: Good plan. Honestly, I think you will appreciate what goes into making a film if you have to work elsewhere to pay for your film. It will make you a better, more appreciative filmmaker and producer.

BEN: I also see you have "Battle Royale" and "Gojira" on your list of movies that inspire you. Those two movies are huge movies to me and changed my life a lot. Godzilla brought me into Asian film and my dream is to make a kaiju movie one day (short or feature...as long as it's a guy in a monster suit I'll be happy).

MJ: Dude if you make a kaiju movie, count me in as free help. I would adore the thought of working on a giant monster movie. On my next trip to Japan I plan on sneaking into TOHO and trying on the Godzilla suit. Battle Royale is one of those pivotal movies that gets most people hooked on Japanese cinema, still stands as a modern day classic in my mind, not so much because of the violence, but because the movie is really about the society of children. If you haven't studied Ozu's films, you should.

BEN: Thanks for all your help!

MJ: Always a pleasure.

Well there you go, I wish Ben all the best in his adventures in filmmaking. I compliment him for wanting to try new things and for wanting to try it all on his own. I hope that his experiences good or bad will be rewarding for him in the long run.

If you have an questions or comments about me, Ashita or making movies in general, I invite you to email me at mj@ashitamovie.com and I will do my best to reply in a timely manner.

The Aging Filmmaker

2008-07-03T10:45:00.000-07:00

The great Martin Scorsese once said: “…On the one hand, you're the same person, but as you get older, you change somewhat, and you never know how it's going to affect your work.” He is as wise a man as he is brilliant a filmmaker. I am constantly reminded of his statement as a monumental occasion approaches less than 30 days from when I write this. My 30th birthday. I know, I know, this may not be a big deal to a lot of you. Its just a number, just another year people say. Well that may very well be true, but to me it feels big and I feel old. Had you asked me 5 years ago or 15 years ago when I got into this insane filmmaking thing to describe myself at 30, I would have quickly answered that I would have been somewhere in Hollywood making some large budget film. I was aiming to be the first director to make both a James Bond and Star Trek (laugh all you want, I love Star Trek) film. Of course, like most people I’ve learned a lot through many hard knocks.

Though I am not famous, not even close to rich and I never saw myself where I am today, I must admit that life has been good to me. I am married to a wonderful, supportive and understanding woman. I have a beautiful son who makes the sun rise with his smile. And I still get to do what I love to do: Tell stories. And I am not telling the stories I used to tell. My approach to making movies has changed. I am far less aggressive with the content—in film school it all had to be blood and gore, but that may have just been a phase or it may have been that I now tell stories in context to where my life has taken me. My films are the expressions of my life. At the time I made The Meatball Story I was angry, very angry and a lot of my anger was focused through the dark humor in the film and the sarcastic nature of the Dario character. When I wrote Truant Café I was hurt, confused and I wanted to settle a score. And since I could not settle in the real world, I would settle it through a film. Ashita explores themes of humanity, solitude and relationships. I think that being married and having experienced the rollercoaster rides of making my two previous films as well as CinemaFix a TV pilot—making the pilot was a truly awful experience, it really demonized me as a director and as a person. CinemaFix was the first time that I truly did not like the person I had become. After making that pilot I realized the monster I had become while making the show and I became very introverted and reflective. The truth is that I suffered a major depression while in post production of Truant Café and I was scared to relapse after CinemaFix, thus I started thinking long and hard about where I wanted to go with my life. I was dangerously close to quitting outright and not wanting to work on another project again. But, like any other artist my soul is embedded in my art. I couldn’t walk away, it would be like asking me to stop breathing. I love telling stories and making movies. Instead of quitting I began some deep introspection and with that the stories of Ashita were born as was my new perspective on my art. With the help of my wife making Ashita helped me discover my humanity.

Being a father brings me to new levels of humanity so who knows what stories and films the 30 years will bring me. Either way when I grow up I want to make movies.

Film Noir et Blanc

2008-04-18T13:27:00.000-07:00

On October 17, 2007 I wrote an entry called “This Movie Has Been Modified from Its Original Version” where I discussed pan & scan and the colorizing process. I also mentioned in my last entry that during my last crazy couple of months I’ve bombarded myself with projects, one of those was a Japanese short titled Yuki Star. In this entry I will follow up on October 17, because I’ve decided that Yuki Star will be in black and white.

It’s no secret that I love black and white movies, I love watching them and I love making them. My first feature The Meatball Story was shot in black and white. Yuki Star, I actually shot in color and only when watching the footage did it strike me that this movie belonged in black and white. As a filmmaker, with every project I do, I try to have fun by experimenting and doing something I’ve never done before. Like I said, The Meatball Story was shot in black and white, while in preproduction and development, my vision of the movie was for it to be in black and white, when I thought about the characters and the nature of the story, I could not picture it in color. So when we got on set, we shot it in black and white. With Yuki Star, while I was writing it and developing it everything was in color. In fact I wanted to give it the rich 70’s style color saturation. However, the day after we shot, I watched the footage and though there was nothing wrong with it, something felt off, it didn’t feel right somehow. I threw the first part of footage into Final Cut Pro and decided to cut a quick opening to the film—again it felt off in color. So I converted into black and white, I didn’t just dump a black and white filter on it, I really tinkered with it to get to look like I shot and lit it for black and white. After watching the same scene in black and white I smiled… this story wanted to be told in black and white.

If you were to throw a rock, you’d be more than likely to hit a black and white nay sayer. More often than not, when I talk to people about black and white they just scoff at me and ask me what year it is. Talk to people like that makes me wish the controlled public usage of nunchuks was allowed. Black and white photography is a form of expression, color is as well (just look at Wong Kar-wai’s use of color in his films). If you take the time to sit down and watch classic or modern films made in a black white medium, then try and imagine them in color, I am ready to bet it will not work (though Ted Turner, may fleas of a thousand camels infest his toupee, tried it and was almost smacked silly by so many people). I don’t know how to explain it better, but movies often times tell the filmmaker how they want to be told. When I watched the footage for Yuki Star, that’s what happened, the story, the acting, the camera work all screamed black and white to me. There are few movies out there that were shot in color and later converted to black and white. The Coen brother’s “The Man Who Wasn’t There” was shot in color, but was presented and released in black and white (ironically, except for Japan where it was released in color). Frank Darabont’s vision for his film “The Mist” was in black and white, but the studio got antsy and so it was shot in color and released in color—however, the 2 disc special edition DVD has both the color and black and white version of the movie, I’ve watched both and the black and white version is far more frightening than the color. It’s the exact same film, not added scenes nothing—one is in color the other in black and white. The color one looked hokey and cheesy, yet the black and white version sent shivers down my spine and the ending, to me, had a much stronger impact in black and white. That being said, black and white should be respected as its own form of expression and like color it is tool used to help tell a story, express a point or convey emotions.

Long live black and white cinema.

My Son, Ashita and lots of stuff

2008-03-27T13:20:00.000-07:00

Okay well…. It’s been a while. If any of you readers are still out there please note that I am still alive! It’s been a crazy time for me, Izumi and I expanded our family. Our first child—our son, Dante Yamaguchi Di Rocco was born on March 3rd. We are thrilled and needless to say it kind of stops all other things in life for a while.

Well, Ashita is still truckin’. Andy has been working hard cutting my 40 hours or so of raw footage into something sensible has finished one and half of the film’s six stories. We’re getting there. On another front, I have used the off time to develop a few more projects. I am working with my old friend Maya Bastian in developing a Bollywood movie—which began as fun conversation between Maya and has now taken on the seriousness of being written as a screenplay, with Maya set to direct and me to have a small part (this project is a fun one, Maya and both wanted each other to direct… in all honesty I wanted a break and I wanted to have fun which I can do as a writer and actor). As well, I was contracted by Toronto cotemporary artist tomolennon to shoot and edit a music video for New York’s Toru Dodo Jazz Trio. That was a lot of fun to shoot and I am vigilantly getting back into editing. Speaking of music videos, I still owe Dr. Draw two videos, I need to sit down with them and get the details hammered out. The Zoobombs will probably be back in Toronto over the summer and they will want to talk music video with me as well. YEESH! I also shot a short film with what I call my “All Star” cast. My mother in-law Kyoko was in Toronto to help us with the baby, and she is a professional actor in Japan, so I figured since she was here I’d put her in a movie, so I wrote a short called Yuki Star and it stars Kyoko, Leona (from Ashita) and Anthony (from The Meatball Story and Truant Café). We shot it in 6 hours… and it’s in the pile of things to edit. Speaking of Anthony, I also shot (and surprise, surprise, need to edit) a talk show he’s producing. Oh yeah, and I am also trying to finish writing a play for Kyoko that she will stage in Japan. I don’t even want to mention the comic book I was developing on the side, you know for fun—like I said I won’t mention that because its way, way, way on the back burner.

My one constant anchor in the chaos is my family. My son Dante is barely a month old now and coming home at the end of the day to hold him is the highlight of my life. Sure, for now, he mostly poos, sleeps, cries and eats, but unless you’ve experienced fatherhood, it’s hard to really describe how wonderful the feeling is of holding your child… somehow when I hold him and looking into his big brown eyes, the whole world seems to make sense. Having a child, changes your world for the better. I can assure its not easy, there a whack load of new levels to the game of life when you have a child, but you know what, they are truly unique and in my honest opinion they make everything else in life a lot better.

Music

2007-11-26T15:15:00.001-08:00

If there is one industry more grueling that the movie industry it is the music industry. I have a great respect for musicians as they have a talent and skill I will never master. I took guitar lessons when I 13 and after a year and half and I could acomplish was “Old McDonald Had a Farm”—besides, I have terrible stage fright so when it came to playing the children’s song in front of a group of people it was a disaster.

Music is an important aspect of movie making. Not many people notice when they watch a movie, but music is used through roughly 75% of the film. And that’s one of the true joys of working as a filmmaker, you get to work with so many different artistic mediums and meld them into one larger project. In my experiences, I’ve had the opportunity to use both a composer to do an original score for me as well as use licesed songs from bands and musicians. With Ashita we’re using some brilliant music from some brilliant bands. We have some great rock songs from The Zoobombs and Super Girl Juice and some wonderful mood music from Dr. Draw.

I have enormous respect for all three bands. My first rule when looking for music for a project is respect. I must respect the band or the musician. I have to feel like a connection with their work, which is normal, because a connection with their work means that their music will also connect with my work. They way I know that they connect is simple. I usually go for a walk and listen to their music on my iPod and if while I’m walking I picture scenes from my movie to the music, it means we’ve connected. I am a filmmaker that likes to use music as part of the scene, I believe that music can help tell your story.

So good, now I’ve connected to the music. It works for my movie, what next? The what next is the complex legal part. You need permission and liceneses and lots of wonderful signatures in order to use a 3 minute masterpiece in your movie. If you new to filmmaking, get used to this fast. Because I respect musicians, I know that their life is difficult sometimes and they starve for their art more than any filmmaker or actor that I’ve ever met.

To be honest, whith you, when you’re a chubby Canadian-Italian making a movie in Japanese you attract more than one skeptic stare. With Ashita I’ve been blessed with musicians who understand what I am trying to do. Actually the two Japanese bands, Super Girl Juice and The Zoobombs did not skoff or laugh at my idea of making a film in Japanese, infact both bands embraced the idea and particpated whole heartedly. Dr. Draw a Canadian band whose comptemporary violin sounds give the movie the added mood the movie needs, is growing in popularity with a number of TV appearances from Breakfast Television to Canada AM—they were fabulous with the idea of Ashita as well.

I have also had the good fortune to get to know all of these bands on a personal level. DON Matsuo, the front man for The Zoobombs, and I share a great interest in books an literature and we’ve had long conversations about life as an artist, we are both excited to work together again soon. Sayaka, the lead singer from Super Girl Juice is a touching woman. She is humbled by the idea of her music being used in a movie to the point that she cried when I showed her some test scenes with her music in it. Eugene Draw, the front man (and vert a talented violinst) from Dr. Draw digs Japanese movies and was super enthusiastic about participating in this movie, I’ve been talking a lot to their manager Murray who, even though busy with booking Dr. Draw in shows all over the world, shows me respect and has put a lot of faith into project.

In fact all the bands have put a lot of faith in Ashita. I won’t disappoint them.

-MJ

This Movie Has Been Modified From its Original Version

2007-10-17T09:49:00.000-07:00

I was asked the oddest question the other day, when discussing my work as a filmmaker; someone actually asked me if I were to remake a film, which one would it be.

I was speechless; I really had no clue what to say. Because it’s not really something I had ever given thought to. Subsequently, it prompted me to give thought to the question. The answer: I don’t think I’d ever do a remake. In fact, "remake" is an old term; the word of the week in Hollywood is now "reinterpretation". This is what studios seem to be doing all over the place; from Superman Returns to the JJ Abrams Star Trek prequel/re-imaging of the franchise. Now don’t get me wrong, in some cases these reinterpretations/re-imaginings/remakes actually work. In the case of Batman Begins it gave new life to a franchise of films that spiraled into sheer lunacy. Tim Burton had made two excellent films with Batman and Batman Returns, then Joel Shumacher took over and things went downhill very quickly. And after the awful Batman & Robin the franchise was put to rest. With Batman Begins, they decided to just start everything all over again and go a very different path, which worked. Hey, what can I say? Sometimes movies studios get things right. The same thing went for Casino Royale many 007 fans were very, very jaded about the direction the films were going. The last few Pierce Brosnan films felt like giant commercials with action scenes intercut between all the product placement. You could almost picture Barbara Broccoli sending hundreds of emails out to every large corporation in the world selling product placement for the new Bond movie, then trying to talk a screenwriter into scripting a story around all the commercials. It was so painful for a lot of fans to watch scene upon scene upon scene of logos, brands etc. What I love about the Brosnan era Bond was that the man himself, Pierce Brosnan was actually complaining about the lack of quality story wise. I guess somebody listened, because Casino Royale did everything right, it had a great story, classic elements of filmmaking, good action, no abundance of psychotic gadgets (no invisible car—thank you movie gods) or product placement. And to boot, they re-started the franchise from scratch.

It’s a trend that can make money and give new credit to a franchise that has taken advantage of fans. When it’s a franchise that will spew many sequels (hopefully of good quality) you can get away with the re-imaginings and re-inventions and starting over from scratch.

What is slightly more frightening is the one off remakes, the most sacrilegious of which would be the 1998 remake of Psycho by Gus Van Sant. This one really didn’t sit well with me, I can accept remakes of popular older movies, but a Hitchcock masterpiece… um, no. Hitchcock’s Psycho is a film that changed the way we see movies—don’t touch it. What was really ridiculous about Van Sant’s remake was that he chose to remake it shot for shot from Hitchcock’s. I am not a hardcore cinema purist, but most people will agree there is line that should not be crossed. True classics are one of them. Another upsetting remake was Jonathan Demme’s 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate. In 1974 Francois Truffaut was invited by Warner Bros. to remake Casablanca, he outright refused and stated: “You want to remake Casablanca? Why not hire someone to puts arms on Venus De Milo.”

The Hollywood recently reporter announced that a remake of yet another Hitchcock classic, The Birds is planned to be released in 2009 (rumored to be in charge of this is the one, the only--gasp--Michael Bay--god help us all).

As a filmmaker (who is far from making classic cinema) I would be upset if someone remade something I did, or retold I story I’ve already told. If I like a movie very much, I wouldn’t pay homage to it by remaking it, I would promote it and discuss why its valuable to the cinema world. Hitchcock made one remake in his life: The Man Who Knew Too Much in 1956 which was a remake of his own movie of the same tile from 1934. The sad truth is that somebody will always think remaking classic films is a good idea, especially in this new era of the big studios, much like in the 1980s when studios took it upon themselves to colorize black and white classics, that was a real mess—that got a strong push from Ted Turner who felt people of the 1980s had no patience to watch movies in black and white (he was also responsible for Pan & Scan videos) so they went and colorized a number of classics including: The Most Dangerous Game, It’s a Wonderful Life, Casablanca, Psycho (which Hitchcock chose to make in black and white), but all that ended when American Film Technologies (funded by Ted Turner) announced they had plans to colorize Citizen Kane of which the rights were in dispute after Orson Welles died (he owned all exclusive rights to the film until his death), but there was a huge outcry with plans to colorize the classic film, because on his death bed Welles told his friends: “Don’t let Ted touch my movie with his little crayons.”

On Directing

2007-10-07T06:18:00.000-07:00

Jean Renoir once said: "A director only makes one movie in his life. Then he breaks it down and makes it again." Though my three films: The Meatball Story, Truant Cafe and Ashita seem vastly different, they explore the one theme in life I see as a constant. That human beings, no matter how different we think we are, no matter how we think, in essence we are all they same. We all smile, we are hurt and when we are each presented with the dark we'd all rather not face it alone.

I am fascinated with human ability to face the worst of life alone and survive. I am fascinated with the secret pain and fear that people hide. And this is reflected in my writing, actually its also reflected when I write. I usually write when I am at my worst, or when a situation is at its worst and I want to talk about it. My first film, The Meatball Story, I wrote over the course of three afternoons in a downtown Montreal food court. I had no money and used my last few dollars to buy a pad and a pack of pencils. Sitting there, angry at the world, sad because I was broke and didn't know where I was going in life, I wrote The Meatball Story, a story about greed and selfishness. Truant Cafe was written in two days in a cafe in downtown Montreal. I had been living in Toronto for a year, but I had come off a terrible relationship with a terrible girl and was very angry at how modern society sees dating and relationships, so I sat in the cafe and wrote Truant Cafe a story about a relationship gone wrong and about getting even. Ashita came at a happy time in my life, I had been married for almost a year to my lovely wife Izumi. We got married in Japan and I fell in love with the country and the culture. I knew I wanted to work on a Japanese project. I thought it would be a wonderful experiment to try. I even expressed the idea to Kyoko, my mother in law, who is a theatrical producer, director and actor in Kyushu, Japan. I told her I would like to write a play for her--this is how the seed was planted in my head. For a while I tried writing a few stories that didn't pan out, I even tried adapting The Meatball Story into Japanese by changing it to The Gyoza Story, but that didn't work either. I felt terrible... I had never been this happy before, so I could not write. So I put my iPod on and went for a walk and I listened to music and some memories came back to me and I was inspired and Ashita was soon thereafter born. My inspiration was not my pain or anger, it was the pain in anger people who live in a big city see everyday.

What does all of this have to do with Renoir's quote? Well, I'm getting to that. As a director of these three films I also had a different approach to these topics of the human condition. I made The Meatball Story with the intention of proving to world that I could do it, that a feature film could be made in little time and for next to no money. Of course, when I was making it, I was positive it was going to win at least three Oscars and affect the cinema world in a way much like Citizen Kane or at least Clerks did. My second kick at the movie making can was Truant Cafe and my approach here was very personal, I wanted to public humiliate someone and I was going to do it with this movie. I was very angry through the whole process of writing, shooting and editing the movie. That's really not a good way to be in any process, especially making a movie. Again, it was going to win three Oscars and change the world. With Ashita, my approach is very different, because I see it as an experiment I can have fun making it. I can play and try things, because after all a white Canadian making a Japanese language film in the city of Toronto with and entirely Japanese cast can only be described as an experiment.

The themes to all three films are on the most basic level, the same, however I am re-imagining them in a new way with each project. As for the Oscars, well with Ashita I want to see the completed experiment more than anything. I am curious and slightly weary of how Japanese audiences will react.

I doubt my fascination with humanity will ever cease. I will be a father in a few months, this is an experience and joy I am looking forward to. I am sure that I will be able to see life in a beautiful and new way through my child's eyes. Who knows maybe one day I will make a kids movie. How cool would that be?

The Happy Accident

2007-09-28T13:49:00.001-07:00

The best things in life are free. I think that’s a saying from the 1950’s. Either way it is true. Some of the best things in Ashita were not planned, not even thought up they were what I like to call, “Happy Accidents.” They are also some of my favorite moments in the film. Not that I don’t like the scripted moments, because I do and some of they are clearly brilliant. The actors worked so hard to make the scenes unforgettable, which is why when the happy accidents happen it adds an extra layer of cool to the movie. I have no idea how many of these happy accidents will make it into the final cut, but I will probably include them on the Special Features part of the DVD at the very least.

The first happy accident I remember is in the Three Girls story when Miki, Ayumi and Yuki all run into each other and encounter the Mystery Woman. We were shooting this scene in a Chinatown back alley, next to a parking garage and the acting was top tier. I remember Tomomi (Yuki) was doing a great job of panicking as Maki (Mystery Woman) was approaching, Izumi (Miki) was trying to help and Minami (Ayumi) was swearing and annoyed. The whole scene was very chaotic, I love it as they were all talking over each other and disoriented—the coolest thing happened, as I was doing camera, I was filming from Mystery Woman’s point of view and I was walking towards the three chaotic girls and as I was doing that, a car came out of the parking garage behind me with its headlights blaring right on the three girls, giving them this creepy look and making seem that it was coming from Mystery Woman. The scene was wonderful and the happy accident of the headlights adds an extra sense of creepiness to the shot. I did not see it until I was watching the footage with Ashita’s editor Andy. When we saw it we both kind of smiled and thought it was pretty cool.

Sometimes, you’re shooting, you see something and it ignites a cinematic spark and an improvised scene happens. Ashita has a lot of outdoor scenes with people all over the city. One night, as we’re shooting the Teddy Bear story’s scenes where Sayaka walks through the city with her stuffed bear talking and thinking to herself. This was easy enough for Yoshiko (Sayaka) as it basically involved her walking around downtown Toronto, it wasn’t very challenging (other than the cold weather) and did not involve a lot of takes. To make things go even faster I scouted a lot of our locations with assistant director Yoko Omura a few days earlier and we had a really good idea of what we wanted to do and how long it would take. While shooting that night we walked from one location to another (I like to keep them close because I can’t afford Teamsters), but we took a wrong turn and walked past a park that was covered in fog, it was a brilliant sight. Parallel lights on both sides of the parks walk way, with a thick fog covering the path—I couldn’t resist, I had to shoot there. The cinema gods had made this just for my shoot. Yoshiko ran to other end of the path and I put my tri-pod in the middle of the path and I yell “Action”. What emerged was a beautiful, mood shot of Yoshiko walking out of the fog carrying her bear. It will be one of the most talked about shots in the film. When Andy, Izumi and I watched this footage all of us were excited. I am certain this shot will make into the film, it’s an almost perfect shot that happened completely by accident. I am so glad we took that wrong turn.

While shooting The Wonderful Elton Fuji with Daisuke as Elton, we had another happy accident, which was really a lot of fun for me. The scene, again, involved Daisuke walking down the street. For this particular sequence I had chosen a backstreet in Toronto’s financial district, it was located near the old courthouse building. We did a few takes of Daisuke walking up and down the street and then on one of the last ones, over my shoulder I hear a voice spew: “Hey man, you makin’ a movie? You makin’ a movie man? I love movies.” I turn around to see a creepy looking guy holding a big wad of cash in his left hand. He smiles at me. Of course when presented with awkward situations, I love to poke them with a stick and see what happens.

“Yes we are,” I say.

“Hey man, that’s cool. I love movies, man.” He says, his grin getting bigger. “What’s this movie called?”

“Ashita,” I say. “It’s Japanese. We’re making a Japanese movie.”

“Japanese, man, that’s dope yo!” He says. “Hey buddy man, you wanna shoot in my parking lot, go ahead its
all yours. Yo, we got a lotta nice cars in here. We got beemers man, a benzo or two man, yo I think I even saw a Ferrari in there man.”

Hmmm… free, well lit location in downtown Toronto, no questions asked. “Sure, that sounds great. We’d love to shoot in your parking lot.”

“One condition though, man,” he looks at Daisuke, points and smiles. “I want the movie star’s autograph.”

Humbly Daisuke replies, “Me?”

“Yeah, man. Give me your autograph right here,” he says to Daisuke as he hands him a hundred dollar bill.

Taking the hundred dollar bill Daisuke says, “You want me to sign this?”

“Yeah man, that way its worth a lot in more ways than one.”

So Daisuke autographed the hundred dollar bill. And we shot in the parking lot, what we shot was Daisuke sitting in the attendant’s booth sketching and drawing. It may sound like nothing really, but it adds an area of depth to the Elton Fuji character by giving the impression that he has a job. The character is a struggling artist, but by giving him the job in the parking lot we now get see that no matter what he does, he can escape into his art.

The latest happy accident was while shooting Fireflies with Leona. The scene was short and involved a few exteriors of Etsu (Leona) in Toronto’s harbor front district. These exteriors were coming at the tail end of a weekend of marathon shooting. Friday night we shot interiors where Etsu meets the half sister she never knew she had Ami (Tomoko Takahashi). The location was Ami’s house and we spent a few hours shooting outside the house, where Leona’s character was debating with herself over a few things. Tomoko was nice enough to help me out with lighting here, when then went inside to shoot a very intense and well performed scene. We wrapped that shoot at about 2:00 AM, I quickly cleaned up and went to sleep as I had an early meeting with another location the next day. Saturday, starting at about 3:00 PM we shot some interiors at a fancy downtown hotel room. We shot straight without breaks until about 7:30 PM, Leona, Izumi and I went to eat then Leona and I hit the streets do a few exteriors. By the time were done the exteriors it was nearly 11:00 PM. Both Leona and I were tired, very tired. As we were walking back to the hotel (like I said I can’t afford Teamsters) we walked under a small tunnel near Union Station and we saw the coolest thing, a man with an electric guitar and amp, playing a heavy metal solo in the middle of the tunnel. There’s traffic going by in both directions and this guy is busting it loose like Slash with his hair flying in the back wind of the cars driving by.

I see this and I stop walking. I had to film this, there was no way I could leave this scene behind and not immortalize in the lens of my camera. Leona is wondering what the hell I am doing as I giggle and take the lens cap off Josephine (that’s my camera’s name). I need to film this guy. As I begin to roll, he decides to take a break. A few seconds pass and he notices me with the camera across the road.

“Hey man, you wanna film a killer solo?” He asks. My reply is a simple thumbs up and with lightning speed he breaks into a wicked solo and I notice how great the acoustics in the tunnel as I film. It was really cool! Cars were wooshing by ad this guy was going nuts on his six-string.

Leona and I crossed the road and we filmed few shots of her walking by this golden sight. Leona seemed a little confused as to why I was so thrilled by the man with the guitar and the answer is simple: You can’t buy shots like this. No matter how odd they seem, these shots, however accidental they are, they just seem to work for the film.

I guess it is true…

3 GIRLS

2007-09-17T14:07:00.000-07:00

I’ve been thinking a lot about the one story I have yet to write about in this fine blog. 3 Girls is the first story I wrote in Ashita. Of all the stories it the one with the biggest cast and it’s the most complex story. It combines some traditional Japanese cinematic images with some hints of my nostalgic memories of my time in Tokyo.

The story (and the movie) begins with Yuki, running towards the camera in complete fear. “Help me,” she screams. She’s being followed by a mysterious figure in white. The mystery woman’s chase of Yuki comes to an end in an alley where hell is about to be unleashed.

Meanwhile Miki and Ayumi are hard at work at the local Asian karaoke bar, they complain about work and money and are expecting another slow night. Then suddenly a mysterious white figure appears in the bar.

Somehow, Miki, Ayumi and Yuki’s paths all cross and are linked by this mystery woman. These three girls are cursed…

Of the six stories in Ashita, this will be the scariest. The acting, again in this story is top notch. Yuki is played by the wonderfully athletic Tomomi Kataoka. I’ve never put an actor through more physically trying scenes than I did Tomomi. I asked to run down the same alley in fear about 35 times in cold November and December weather. Lucky for me she once was a lacrosse player and was a wonderfully good sport about the whole thing, especially when she ran a hole through her boots. Mystery Woman, who can instill fear into all, was played by Maki O., who I commend for having the most complex make-up job (she’s painted entirely in white) and who wears only a thin white kimono (again in November and December). Though people think her acting job may have been easy because she has no dialogue, I disagree. To be able to remain so stone faced and emotionless to create a frightening atmosphere is not an easy task. Maki, too, was a good sport and we all had fun walking down the street with her while she was completely painted white. Or walking into a Starbucks to order coffee and warm up and there is was in the middle of the café all in white.

In the bar, Miki is played by my beautiful wife Izumi Di Rocco, whose portrayal of a down on her luck bar maid is dead on. Her younger, more flamboyant, pink haired counterpart, Ayumi, is played wonderfully by Minami Kubota. Minami is a sweet, young girl who caught us all by surprise with the viciousness of her acting. There is a certain scene when Ayumi yells at her boss (played by Takashi Fujita) it is, to put it simply, fantastic. I never thought such a sweet looking girl could be so visceral. It’s brilliant. Izumi and Minami have wonderful chemistry that gives them a natural big sister/little sister relationship. And when their characters cross paths with Yuki it is what is sure to be one of the most chaotic scenes in Ashita—and one of the most frightening.

I had a lot of fun shooting 3 Girls. It was full of wonderful surprises and nice little moments that I always smile when I remember them. The first was the pink hair for Minami. Sometimes casting against type works, anyone who met Minami would have thought her perfect to play a sweet, innocent girl (many suggested her for Sayaka in the Teddy Bear story) but my gut told me to put her as the bitchiest character in the movie. Somehow I knew it would be right. But her natural look was too sweet, we needed to give her a more an edge, like she just stepped out of the hippest club in Shinjuku. So I sat down with Ashita’s make-up artist Masayo and the first thing I said is that I wanted her to have colored hair, red, purple, blue. I don’t know something. Pink was the first color we tried and once I saw it, there was no turning back. We matched Izumi to look as flamboyant but with a more conservative, older look. We gave Izumi dark eye make-up, long nails and a big white feather boa over a fur coat and Chinese dress. Both girls looked awesome and carried the right kind of attitude for their parts. Izumi had experience working in a bar, so she had not trouble getting into the mood of the character, Minami took method acting very serious and she got a job in a karaoke bar for a few weeks just to garnish the experience.

When I watched the footage for 3 Girls is feels like it was a much larger shoot than it actually was. Though it was the one of my more open sets where anyone was allowed to watch, we had so much fun shooting that it doesn’t feel big to me. Some of Ashita’s most complex shots were pulled off with almost no difficulty, combined with the dedication of girls willing to freeze to death or run up and down the same alley 35 times so I could get enough coverage. For me, 3 Girls, was a completely new way of shooting. I did not preparation, no story boarding or shot listing. It was decided on set at the time of shooting—and it was deiced quickly because it was some nights it was so damn cold. We did a lot of rehearsals, but I planned no shots—which for me was difficult, because once the actors get the mood of the scene I spend most of the second half of rehearsal writing shots and shot lists. But for 3 Girls, I decided everything on set which was a refreshing experiment that I may or may not repeat based on the circumstance.

I am avoiding giving you more information about the story or the finer points of its meaning simply because I want you to be surprised. 3 Girls, like all of Ashita’s stories has a strong message about loneliness, however there is significantly more metaphors, mixed in with powerful imagery in this particular story, that should leave audience’s heads spinning to find the answers to the questions this story asks.

Thoughts From A Master

2007-09-13T10:01:00.000-07:00

Today my daily glance at the online version of the Toronto Star newspaper, proved to be educational. The most read stories were, of course, stuff about the war on terror, the Toronto Transit Commission raising the price of subway and bus fares and the fact the McDonalds is revamping its look to give itself a sophisticated (I use this word deliberately for my lovely wife Izumi and the always joyful Kelly—who teaches me Japanese and to whom I teach English and to whom I instructed to use the word at least 3 times this week) new look. Though a sophisticated looking McDonalds, with leather sofas, built in fireplaces and pendant lighting may be interesting reading, what I found lower down the page was interesting article about one of my favorite filmmakers, Woody Allen.

The Toronto International Film Festival is going strong until this weekend and like every year it attracts its fair share of big stars. When I attend screenings, I usually like to stay for a conversation with the director after the film. The Q & A’s are always a lot of fun. I was on the fence about seeing Woody Allen’s new movie Cassandra’s Dream at the film fest for the sheer reason that I know it will get general release and I will be able to see it in theatres before Christmas. The only reason I was thinking about going to see it at the festival was that Allen would be there to possibly introduce the film and have Q & A afterwards—a rare public appearance by Woody Allen outside of a New York Knicks game is always a treat. In the end, I opted not to get tickets for Cassandra’s Dream but I am happy that my favorite newspaper was able to post this gem of a story. Basically Woody Allen calls himself a lazy filmmaker. He is quoted as saying: "I'm not a dedicated filmmaker, I'm lazy. To me, making a film is not the be-all end-all of my life. I want to shoot the film and go home and get on with my life… I said to myself after the first film, this is ridiculous, I don't want to work to get a shot and miss the basketball game. I don't want to have to work late, I don't want to have to kill myself on the weekend, I don't want to have to sit through rehearsals endlessly or shoot the extra 10 takes to get the perfect moment."

Allen makes a lot of sense in what he says on a number of levels. First, as a husband and soon to be father I have been conflicted over that past few weeks about future film projects. Yesterday in an e-mail exchange with my good friend Luc I expressed to him my thoughts about future projects. Certainly films are in my blood and I will never be able to put them out of my life, also I a have a creative soul so I will be unable to function without some kind of creative outlet. But making a film takes up a huge chunk of your life, lucky for me, my wonderful Izumi has been my partner and biggest supporter throughout this past year in making Ashita. And honestly, sometimes I have not made it easy for her. Not only was I making Ashita, I had also agreed to film and edit two live shows and a concert. This on top of making a feature film was pushing my limits. There were times when I felt like I was losing my mind. There were times when I wanted to shut down the whole production without caring what the cast and crew would think. I had suffered a depression a few years ago and I could feel another one coming, so I just wanted to stop everything and live a “normal” life. Then the most interesting thing happened. I took a vacation. I went to Las Vegas with my one my best friends Andrew, each year we make it a point to take our annual golf/gambling trip. Andrew is hard working civil servant with three beautiful kids and we’ve been friends since college. Our week in Vegas, full of booze, golf and black jack proved to be a welcome change from costume tests, camera tests, rehearsals and marketing meetings. It was what I needed to recharge my batteries. As it my as my private time with Izumi at the film festival. We are seeing five movies in ten days, we’ve has a date on Saturday, Monday, Tuesday and also this coming weekend. We are spending valuable time together. Try not to take this out of context, but the time I have with my wife, my family and my friends is more valuable to me than making my movie. Woody Allen is right. Not that making Ashita is not important or does not mean anything, but too many times in the past did my personal suffer for my movies and it was truly not worth it. I am more than a filmmaker. I am a friend, a husband and soon a father and I cannot picture myself, nor do I want to say, telling my child we can’t play today because daddy has to finish his movie. No… Never. Daddy will play first, then make his movie. I love everyone who’s ever worked with me on any of my projects and I have deep respect and admiration for all of them and I am the first to tell them family comes first. I welcome husbands or wives on set, I will never ask someone to choose my movie over a loved one. I accommodate their needs for family events and personal events, because I would be foolish to think (and I have been in the past) that my film is greater in their lives than their families.

Allen makes another good point, though he hides in it in his quote about being lazy. He says he does not shoot a more than three takes, he does not wait for the so called “Perfect Take”. Again here we see the genius of Woody Allen who is heralded as one of modern cinema’s great directors. He is a man actors line up to work for. I think he makes a point in doing fewer takes, he’s realistic on an independent level. This is something all budding film students should learn. Actor Collin Farrell noted he did as many takes in Allen's latest film as he did in one scene of the film version of Miami Vice. For a big budget movie like Miami Vice it may be okay to got the extra perfectionist route. When you’re working with almost no money or very little time you have to make due with what you got. I am not saying cut corners, especially not with acting. Andy and I were discussing this last week, he complimented in saying: “You get things done.” Which is the first rule of I go by, get it done. Do it well, but if you spend too much time on one shot or one scene, you will lose perspective of the greater picture: The film. Last night I had rehearsal for Fireless, Ashita’s newest story. Leona and our newest movie star Tomoko Takahashi were over to rehearse and they will agree that they way I work is for the bigger picture, if I spend too much worrying about small things, the bigger picture will suffer, which I why I allow actors to change their dialogue and sometimes pick their own costumes. I give them freedom to move about how they like. The way I work with actors is simple, I tell them the overall picture, what the meaning is, what I feel the scene is about and them I let them lose to play and explore, this gives me greater performances from the actors because they have more freedom. I’ve seen far too many directors micro-manage (or micro-direct if you prefer) their actors. They tell their actors to hold a fork in a specific way or tie their shoe in such a manner, now if these things affect the bigger picture then yes do it, but if it’s just a character tying a shoe or eating dinner, than who cares how they do it. What Woody Allen is saying, is instead of trying to get that perfectly framed shot try to worry about the story and the movie instead. Get it done and care about it, but not too much—just enough to make your life fun.

Thank you Mr. Allen.

Reflections of Tomorrow

2007-09-05T08:48:00.000-07:00

The Toronto International Film Festival is upon the city again. The lines are long to buy tickets to the various world premieres; folks will all of a sudden be shopping in the posh Yorkville area of downtown to hopefully run into a celebrity in the Prada store or Holts. Me, I’m in it for the films. I will be seeing five films this year which is more than I’ve seen at the last two festivals combined. Am I excited? Certainly the prospect of seeing 5 movies over 2 weeks in a room full of film enthusiasts (who else would pay roughly $27 to see movie?) is very intriguing and puts me in a reflective mood.

I’ve taken a break from Ashita over the next two weeks in order to attend the industry calls one of the most important film festivals in the world, I call it a giant geek-a-thon. Andy is also taking a break from editing as he is braver and maybe richer than me and will be seeing roughly 25 movies or so. This well deserved time off will allow me the chance to do a number things; 1) Have five dates with my wife in two weeks. 2) Watch some of modern cinema’s greatest master works 3) Seek inspiration 4) Reflect further on my new film Ashita.

Like I said, I’m in a reflective mood.

Last night I had an old friend over for dinner. Frank B. Kermit and his future bride were over to celebrate their wedding this coming weekend. Frank and I have a long history he is the one who gave me my first directing opportunity on a TV show in what feels like a century ago. Frank, who today, is a successful author, radio host and public speaker is a good friend of mine and has work on my two previous features, The Meatball Story and Truant Café, and my TV pilot, Cinema Fix. I mentioned to him that Ashita is very different than my previous work and that it feels a lot different making this one that the others. The Meatball Story, my first feature, I originally wrote as a play and wanted to present it as such, but theatre being more unstable than the film industry it was not to be. So not wanting to put months of rehearsals to waste, I decided to shoot it as film. It was shot in 6 days in black and white in my cousin’s tiny restaurant in downtown Montreal. And to be honest, none of us really knew what were doing. Not that Meatball is a bad movie, on the contrary, it’s a lot of fun to watch because it’s so inhibited and free. Someone once called it a “B-Movie Midnight Cult Classic” which I take as a great compliment. Truant Café, was a much bolder project with a very high ambitions. Truant Café reunited with not only Frank, but also Nina-Rose Singh and the versatile Anthony Colace. We did a complete 180° turn with Truant, I was aiming to make a very dark and angry psychological thriller. As much as the film was different from Meatball, it had a lot of similarities. Truant Café was shot in roughly nine days with a lot of the same cast and crew and I wrote the script over a weekend while visiting Montreal.

I am extraordinarily proud of both films and the excellent work involved. But both films suffer a little due to the time constraints imposed on us by the locations and the lack of experience. Again, both films, I think, are excellent but with my new film Ashita I’ve opted to do things a little differently. The biggest example of that is that 1 year after we began shooting, we are not yet complete. Am I afraid of falling into film limbo and not knowing when to stop? Of course I am, but I trust the people around me and the people I work with. I have a brilliant wife whose support and logic make her a great producer. I have an editor, who is not afraid to tell me I’m going overboard or too far. I am not saying Ashita will be a perfect film, it will be yet another experience that leads to many more. And the influence of Meatball and Truant hand heavy in this movie, from a cameo appearance by Anthony Colace to using the experience and past mistakes as a tool for progress. In Truant Café I had to make a very difficult decision to cut out my original ending and shoot a new one almost a year later. It is a very humbling experience when you first present the scenario to all those involved. Explaining to your cast and crew, who have all worked so hard and believed in your project enough to follow you and work on it, that you’ve changed your mind about something and need to re-shoot, is gut grinding. But it gets easier. The Meatball Story had no re-shoots and was marked with the very film school-esque attitude of: “We’ll iron out the shooting glitches in post.” Never iron out any glitches in post—it works sometimes and did so in the case of Meatball, but took almost one year to get a rough cut out, because I was “Ironing things out in post.” Truant Café was the first time I did a re-shoot and I am very happy with results. We re-shot the ending of the film and it gives the movie a much creepier feeling and darker undertones. With Ashita, I’ve done a number of re-shoots and I made the even harder decision to cut a character and story out of the film—I did something similar in Meatball because of length, but in Ashita the character and story did not blend well with rest of the film.

To be honest, if I had not met Frank almost 15 years ago, I would not be making Ashita today. Over the last that decade and a half I learned some valuable lessons: 1) Always treat your cast and crew well, or they will leave you. 2) If you can help it, don’t rush a shoot. 3) Nothing really gets fixed in post, do it right, it’s worth it. 3) Be honest to yourself as an artist 4) Know your limitations 5) Doing a film because you love it is the only real reason to do a film.

Was reminded of point number 5 a lot last night, and everyone whose worked on one of my projects was in it because they loved it, good or bad, they were in it to learn, play and do something interesting. The love of cinema will be present at the film festival also… But my biggest love for cinema is presented with the people who choose to work with me.

Like I said, I’m in a reflective mood.

You can check Frank out at: http://franktalks.com/

You can check Anthony out at: http://www.anthonycolace.com/

The Wonderful Elton Fuji

2007-08-31T07:53:00.000-07:00

What would be like if you couldn’t talk? How would you express yourself? How would you let people know you existed? How would you make a difference? After all some of the world’s greatest accomplishments began with great words: “I have a dream…”, “Man will walk on the moon…” Of course other people left equally powerful marks with not only words but art. As great a man as Pablo Picasso was his true legacy in his art. Da Vinci, for all the great things he may have said, is truly remembered by his work and art.

Enter Elton Fuji, a humble Japanese man with puffy hair. He is a mute. He is an artist. Happy with his everyday life, he enjoys a peaceful existence of daily routine and art until he falls in love. The Wonderful Elton Fuji, on the surface, seems the most different of all the stories in Ashita, however upon further thought it’s easily realized how much this story belongs in the movie. Elton, played wonderfully by the diverse and talented Daisuke Takeya, is such a fragmented character. When I originally had the concept for the story, I knew immediately that I want Daisuke to play the part—I was ecstatic when he agreed to it, in fact I was not going to shoot the story unless Daisuke was in it. Now, Daisuke is an extraordinarily busy man and I am grateful and amazed that he found the time to dedicate to this part of Ashita and honestly, I am glad I wanted only him. It’s impossible to picture Elton Fuji any other way than how Daisuke played him.

I essentially created the story as a challenge to myself. Ashita’s stories are heavy on dialogue and characters that express themselves though complex monologues or conversations. I wanted to create something totally opposite, something that would really bring the same meaning but with a different approach. And so was born The Wonderful Elton Fuji. The story isn’t completely silent, there is a narrator who talks to Elton, who I see as his subconscious—the only reason I went with the narrator was to keep a certain consistency within the six stories because all the other stories have voiceover, I needed to give Elton something similar. Of course having Elton do voiceover, would be ridiculous, he’s a mute character I could not bring myself to believe that he would have voiceover, even if the voiceover is interpreted as part of his thoughts. I decided a narrator describing Elton for the audience would work better. What makes it cinematically interesting, I think, is that Elton interacts with the narrator. The essence of the story is that Elton is in love with the girl that lives across the hall from his apartment and the only way he knows how to communicate with her is through art. So draws for her, he leaves the drawings on her door, knocks and runs away. She replies with notes on his door, and thus our little, quirky love story begins.

Of all the shoots on Ashita, The Wonderful Elton Fuji was the fastest, firstly there was no lengthy dialogue so almost every frame we shot is usable and creates a necessity for less takes. I also wanted to have an improvised feeling for this story, all the camera work was hand held, I avoided the tripod with this story and I think it really gives the story a warmer feeling and it makes us feel closer to the character of Elton. Daisuke and I did very little rehearsing, we met twice before the shoot just to go over costume and a few quick ideas I had. Almost everything about this story was decided on set. I wanted to camera to play and discover things along with Elton and it really turned out nice.

The main theme of the story is communication through visual art, this is not a new concept if we look at the very famous painting The Scream by Edvard Munch, we can clearly see him communicating tormented emotion. Elton is not so dark in his work, but the message he brings out is clear beauty is best seen. Tell someone they are beautiful, they may be flattered, but they may also not believe you. If you show someone how they are beautiful that will leave a much bigger and more powerful impact. I originally envisioned The Wonderful Elton Fuji in black and white with colour sequences. Colour is something that Andy and I discussed with this story. I think if we do not go with black and white we will go with one monotone colour, meaning most of the story will have a blue or yellow filter.

The more we proceed with each of these stories in the movie, the more I see them as six dreams about tomorrow. And like dreams I want them to visually interesting. To me, Elton Fuji would be the type of dream you have while taking an afternoon nap on a warm summer day—at first you’re not sure what its about, but as it slowly moves along it becomes a warm experience that reveals a wonderful secret and when you wake up, you smile because the world looks just a little bit better.

Cream Puff Explosion

2007-08-27T08:31:00.000-07:00

Riko, Aya, Mizuki and Yuka have been friends since childhood. They are as close as anyone can be. About five years ago or so, Riko and Yuka moved away from Japan to North America, leaving Riko and Aya behind. Ashita’s story Cream Puff Explosion (named after a band the four friends had formed) starts with Riko, Aya and Mizuki in a laundromat folding clothes. Aya and Mizuki are staying with Riko for a few says, they’ve come to town for Yuka’s wedding which is tomorrow. The three friends reminisce about old times and laugh like they used to and Riko can’t express how much she’s missed them these last five years.

The go back to Riko’s house and drink wine and talk about me, Aya wants all the dirty details about Yuka’s future husband—she wants to gossip wondering if white guys are bigger than Asian guys etc. Mizuki smirks and asks what difference does it really make, Yuka and Joey are in love and that’s all that matters.

The conversation quickly takes a turn as Riko looks distant and sad. After some prodding by her friends, she embarrassingly admits that she is in love with Joey, Yuka’s finance and that her and Joey have been sleeping together and in a relationship for over a year.

Things come crashing down from there. I will limit what I say about this particular story beyond this point. It’s pretty obvious what her friends might think or say. But the central theme, though may seem like adultery, is more about friendship and love. Riko chooses not to tell her best friend Yuka about the affair, because she does not want to hurt her. So the question is; is it better to lie to protect somebody or to tell the truth and possibly destroy them. Again, I do not pretend to know the answer to this question which is why I ask in this story. The aspect of love is involved in here as well. Riko says that her relationship with Joey is not just sex, but that they are truly in love. A number of questions pop here… is it wrong to love your best friend’s husband? Well the bible will say yes, anyone whose experienced passion through love may disagree. Sometimes you fall in love with people and you can’t control yourself, you can try, but usually you end up helpless. Besides don’t all human beings have the right to feel any way they want about anybody or anything? Riko may be selfish by choosing her happiness over her friends, but when the possibility of total loneliness is presented to you, you may be surprised at what you are willing to do to fill that void in your heart. Again, I’m not saying I’m right… I’m just saying that these questions are asked in Cream Puff Explosion. And like all stories in Ashita, CPE brings its own perspective on love, loneliness and humanity.

Riko is played brilliantly by Rumiko A. Matsuda, who when I first approached her with the story wanted to play Aya, but the more I thought about it the more Rumiko seemed a good fit for the part of Riko. One night I met her at Tim Horton’s and we discussed the possibility. Rumiko, took the script home and re-read it this time keeping the role of Riko in mind. A few days later she called me and said:

“Absolutely not. I do not want to play Riko.”

“Well then,” I said. “You better come over to my house for coffee.”

Two nights later she was over and we discussed the part. Rumiko was angry at Riko, she hated her and bluntly said that she cannot ever like a person who would do such a thing. I can understand such feelings, but I asked Rumiko not to judge Riko… in fact, I suggested that she should try to understand her. We then had a long conversation about love and loneliness, where I asked a lot of the same questions I asked above. Rumiko agreed to take another look at the character, and tried to understand Riko—to this day, Rumiko does not like Riko, but she understands her… which is fine. I am sure Anthony Hopkins, though he understands Hannibal Lectre, he probably does not like the man very much. As an actor, you need to understand and respect the character you are playing, but you do not have to like him or her.

Rumiko agreed to play the part of Riko and I was thrilled, she was joined by Sho Suzuki as Aya and Kanako Yamamoto as Mizuki. All three were stellar in their parts and really bring out the finer details of friendship. When I wrote the story and thought of these characters, I thought of my relationships with my some of my closest and oldest friends. What’s beautiful about the love of friends is that, much like a spouse, it is a chosen love. People chose to be your friends, the real friends, take the good with the bad. In my case, some of my closest friends who have known me for over a decade, accept the good and the bad, they accept my insanity and seclusion while making movies, they accept my binge drinking through the stress and my many other flaws. My true friends and my lovely wife still love me and value in my existence even when I do not. This is really what Cream Puff Explosion brings out. Riko, is in quite the terrible spot she’s admitted to lying and hurting people, she’s admitted to doing very bad things, yet her friends get angry and criticize what she’s done. However, they do not judge her and more importantly they do not abandon her. And this is the true root of friendship, it’s more than have a few beers and taking in a ball game, its being there when you’re needed, through the good but more importantly through the bad. So to my wife and my true friends, I thank you for inspiring me and teaching me for all of you I made Cream Puff Explosion.

-MJ

The Gift

2007-08-20T13:10:00.000-07:00

Sitting in the sturdy (yet remarkably un-sturdy looking) orange chair in Andy’s condo on Saturday evening, I watched the first 6 minutes or so of The Gift unfold on the computer monitor in front of me. The Gift is a very complex and mesmerizing story in the Ashita cannon. It’s probably the story that the audience will have the most difficulty with because of its dark context and the open ended questions it presents to the viewer.

The story is about a couple whose marriage and relationship has deteriorated into estranged oblivion, The Gift is tail end culmination of that couple’s relationship. Toshio, who hasn’t see his wife, Meiko, for almost a year flies from Tokyo to Toronto to serve his wife with divorce papers—the only way Meiko would agree to a divorce is if her husband bring the papers himself. He catches a red eye from Tokyo and plans to leave the very same day. He is not pleased with having to hand-deliver the papers on the extravagant, eccentric whim of his wife. Meiko is pensive and distant as she sits in her apartment smoking her cigarette waiting for Toshio. When he arrives, they are cold and distant to each other, it’s almost hard to see that they were once in love except for the cold memories each brings up in the conversation. As they talk and each increasingly tries to smooth out the uncomfortable air between them, Toshio gets increasingly annoyed and Meiko gets increasingly vicious towards him. The raises as Toshio explodes into violence towards his wife, yet Meiko accepts his physical attack with sexual gratification and to further hurt him, she presents him with a gift… when he sees the gift Toshio is left viscerally emasculated and emotionally destroyed.

What a story indeed. Toshio is played by Toronto contemporary artist tomolennon, whose portrayal of the alpha male on the verge of a nervous breakdown is stunningly accurate. I found his ability to portray the annoyance, bitterness and scorn of Toshio quite remarkable. The part of Meiko was played by Yukiko J. Tamaki with equal brilliance. The sadness and confusion she brought to the character were powerfully shocking. The conflicting nature of Meiko will leave the audience much like they leave Toshio and Yukiko’s ability to do was frightening in stature. In watching Andy’s early cuts of the scene, the powerful acting of both Yukiko and tomolennon rings true to the nature of the script.

When I was watching the early cut of the scene on Saturday night I felt very uncomfortable—which is good, there is a lot of tension in the room with Meiko and Toshio and everything in the early pointed to that tension and I really felt the impact of the acting, camera and editing. Watching The Gift was like remembering a bad memory, which is essentially what I wanted the feeling to be.

To me, while writing and making The Gift, I had to visit some very dark parts of the human soul (I know my actors had to go there as well). Relationships are always very interesting, yet there is almost something obsessive about how they end. In retrospect it always seems silly later on, but in the heat of the moment—that very fine, precise moment when you know the relation is dead it’s a rather catastrophic feeling. I’ve been through my fare share of relationship based issues and I’ve had relationships and friendships end and I wanted to capture that feeling—that empty anger people feel at the end. I think studying that empty anger is important, because it then when we cease being the logical free thinking human beings that we are and we revert to an instinctual sate of attack and defense. The main reason that I was uncomfortable watching this scene, is the same reason I was uncomfortable writing it; I don’t want to accept that I can one day be in that situation. Furthermore I want to completely deny ever feeling that angry or vulnerable. Human emotion is completely brilliant and baffling all at the same time. I think that the honesty in The Gift is the strong point in the story. Watching these characters fall apart is a reminder of how fragile and tragic our lives can be.

My greatest inspiration when writing the gift was the brilliant film Kramer vs. Kramer as well as Michael Mann’s urban epic Heat. These films are all shocking reminders of humanity and relationships going straight to hell. The characters in these films, much like the characters in The Gift are not characters any of us want to be, but in the same sense, they are characters that we may turn into. Of all the stories in Ashita, The Gift was the quietest to shoot. What do I mean by that? Well, it was the one with a closed set. On set were the actors, Izumi my producer and wife—she was on set as my only crew, and me. The social interaction on set was minimal and the shooting long and intense. Even the rehearsals were done separately. Jenny and tomolennon were rehearsing separately as to deliberately not see each other to increase the distance of their characters.

In the end, The Gift asks: Where did life go? Why did it have to run away? Why do things have to change?

Teddy Bear

2007-08-14T13:42:00.001-07:00

Sayaka is alone… Well not totally, she has Teddy, her stuffed bear to keep her company as she walks the streets of the city at night. She talks to Teddy, she tries to understand why the love of her life has left her. Somehow walking and hoping for rain brings Sayaka comfort.

She misses him. If only she could see more than a memory of him, if only he’d come back. Sayaka explores the beauty of the night as she walks. She points out to Teddy the eccentricities of life, love and loneliness as she goes about her various nightly activities like playing chess with Teddy or eating noodles. Before going to bed, she confronts Teddy about the lonely world they live in and tries to reassure him that life will get better… if only it would rain.

This story, Teddy Bear, will probably be one of the favorites by the viewers of Ashita. As it has very sad undertones, it is, by far, not as tragic as many other scenes in the movie. Some people may even be able to identify with Sayaka and her perspective on live. Certainly the character is a little off centre—being that she is in her late 20s and walks through the city at night talking to a teddy bear. But the same thing that makes the character and story off centre also gives is sweetness and melodramatic romanticism.

The part of Sayaka is brilliantly played by Yoshiko Nomura who brings a natural comfort to the role. I was very happy when Yoshiko accepted to play the part, I knew she would bring the character to life in the way only Yoshiko’s natural personality could. Teddy Bear was very challenging for me to create and shoot. Sayaka is indeed a very complex character, but she has to be portrayed as simple. For me, its always easy and fun to write dark, complex characters with a lot of demons... but with Sayaka who is a cute girl with a cute teddy bear, to make that kind of sweet image have complicated layers was very interesting. The fact that she talks to the stuffed bear helps, other absurdities like playing chess with the bear also adds to the layers. Essentially what I wanted to create with this story and this character was the sense of estrangement that heartbreak brings. When your heart is broken, you always feel like you’re the only one in the world who is hurting. You feel like no matter happens life will always feel this empty. Before writing the story I thought about these things and then I added the ‘what if’—What if the heartbroken feeling doesn’t go away? What if someone carried this feeling for a long, long time? What if her heart is broken because she lost her soul mate? How would it change her? How would she be affected? I bring those answers out in film, in a very unique way. I feel that the answer is not clear. Any human reaction is never fully clear. But the result is a simple girl who tries to deal with complex feelings.

-MJ

Something in the dark

2007-08-11T06:12:00.000-07:00

The dark is cold and savage. In the distance it approaches me. I can feel it coming. I can hear its breath. Its closer than I think.

"Hello my old friend, we meet again," it whispers to me.

"What are you doing here?" I ask.

"The same thing you are," I know its smiling. I can't see it, but I feel it. I feel that evil smile in the dark. How quickly life can change and turn--one moment all seems well and in the next it collapses.

"I don't want you here." It knows I'm scared. I can sense it in the deepest part of my soul. The dark doesn't always bring peace. The dark doesn't always bring quiet.

"You made me, now you don't want me." It's close. Very close. I can feel its cold breath. I can smell the stink. "You have to face me sometime. Were you so foolish to think that you could hide in the dark. Did you think you would find refuge here? Mercy?"

Its circling me. I can hear its heart beating. How I wish I could start over... start again. Pain or no pain, I wish I could begin everything again.

It laughs, "You are a fool." Can it hear my thoughts? Does it know what I am feeling? It laughs more. "The more you run or hide from me, the closer I get. The more you try to understand me, the more I become a part of you."

Its around me everywhere, slithering, walking, crawling. I can't tell. It tightens. It has me in its grip. The pain sets in, it fills my muscles, my nerves, my bones. It tightens its grip on me. I feel my life draining into the darkness. As the darkness absorbs my soul, I hear: "I forgive you."

Fireflies

2007-08-10T11:51:00.000-07:00

When you sit down in a dark room and look your thoughts in the eye, you sometimes come to an awesome realization—things may be headed in the right direction. Ashita has officially been in production for a year. This doesn’t disturb me as much as it did a few months ago when I was in Vegas—I went to Vegas because I was so disturbed, overwhelmed and partially depressed and what seemed to be an unending process of making this strange experimental film. Subsequently, I was more depressed when I decided to cut one story out of the film in order to write and film another that would work better in the context of Ashita. The decision, didn’t depress me so much as the thought of having to go on set again and shoot yet another story. Lucky for me, I have some wonderful people surrounding me and they’ve revived my excitement in the shooting of this new story. I discovered this the other day while sitting in my computer room listening to the opera La Boheme blasting through my headphones.

I have been requested by some Ashita fans (thanks whoever you are, though I am still convinced it’s my mom and wife) to write more in depth entries about each story along with my critical analysis. Since I have yet to shoot the newest story, Fireflies and since it is the freshest in my mind, I will talk about it first.

Fireflies was written as a replacement for a replacement. Originally, I had another story ready to replace “Ms. Smiley” and Leona and I had had a few meetings about it. Upon further reflection, I felt that the story titled “Ai & Nana” would be best suited for another project. Having been listening to opera and drinking heavily over the past few weeks I began to wonder what happened to all the fireflies, I remember seeing them when I young, but now I don’t see so many, even in the country side. This was the beginning of my new story for Ashita… in fact I open the story with those exact words, here is the opening words of the story:

V.O.-ETSU: “I wonder whatever happened to all the fireflies. (BEAT) When I was a little girl I remember seeing so many fireflies. Today I can barely see any.”

The story follows Etsu as she’s traveled from Japan to North America to seek out her estranged father who abandoned her and her mom when she was a little girl. The only sign she every got from her father was a card every year on her birthday asking her not to forget the fireflies (seeing fireflies at beach with her father is her fondest childhood memory). Ashita is a film mainly about love, loneliness and the human condition. Throughout the film, I explore love between friends, a marriage that’s fallen apart, loneliness through routine, a lost love and love through art. With this new story, Fireflies, I wanted to explore the love between parents and children (as I am soon to become a parent, it is something that has been floating through my head). I had few ideas on how to explore this them, certainly the relationship between a parent and a child, like any other, grows constantly. Etsu has not seen her father in over 20 years, yet she still loves him and has not forgotten the memories of the fireflies at the beach. As the story progresses, Estu discovers some rather unpleasant truths about her father. Maybe the memories of the fireflies represent, to both Etsu and her father, a perfect memory. Maybe it represents the way of how each of them wishes their love could be… and by it existing in their thoughts, does it not become somewhat of a reality? The question is, can you love someone through a memory? If I knew the answer I wouldn’t have written the story. Maybe you can, even though, in most cases, a memory is either better or worse than the actual situation. A memory is what you want it to be.

Being human is not an easy thing. Though I know deep down, Etsu has had a very difficult life she still seems to have certain type of optimism. The things she learns about her father are not easy to hear. Realizing the man she is looking for is not at all the man she remembers. How difficult this reality must be to accept. Etsu, through her joyful optimism and eccentric conversations with herself, chooses to accept her memories as the truth she’d rather have. Love, life and humanity are all mysteries that Etsu, like everyone else alive tries to solve. But maybe, some mysteries remain better unsolved. Like the line says in Nussun Dorma from Puccini’s opera Turandot;

Nessun dorma!... Tu pure, o Principessa,
Nella tua fredda stanza
Guardi le stelle
Che tremano d'amore e di speranza.
Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me,
Il nome mio nessun saprà!
Solo quando la luce splenderà,
Sulla tua bocca lo dirò fremente!...
Ed il mio bacio scioglierà il silenzio
Che ti fa mia!...

Translated it says:

Nobody shall sleep!... Nobody shall sleep! Even you, o Princess, in your cold room, watch the stars, that tremble with love and with hope.But my secret is hidden within me, my name no one shall know... No!...No!... On your mouth I will tell it when the light shines.And my kiss will dissolve the silence that makes you mine!...

Yes, some mysteries are better to be left alone. Their meanings will be discovered in time and through nature.

-MJ

Ashita in a Nutshell

2007-08-06T06:43:00.000-07:00

It stares at me like giant beacon. A pathetic reminder of the state of things:

Jesus is my homeboy.

I wonder if Jesus is opposed to the term “homeboy” and I wonder what he thinks about being used in the context of said “homeboy.”

“Eight Seventy-three,” the Korean guy says.

I hand the guy the cash, he gives me my change and I tell him, “Nice t-shirt.”

Jesus is my homeboy.

I really don’t want to do this anymore. My back hurts, my knees hurt, I’ve put on weight, haven’t gotten a decent night’s sleep since August 2006. I’m tired, so damn tired.

Write more about the stories... these are the orders from the producers. "We want people to get interested in what the film is about. Where do I start?

Ashita is comprised of six stories all revolving around something that will happen tomorrow. On top of the six stories we have Keiko's dance, that ties the stories to each other.

Here is a breakdown of the stories:

3 Girls, is basically that. We have Yuki, who runs... she runs from a white ghost like figure who slowly and patiently chases her. Yuki is frightened and more than anything wants to be free of the curse that follows her. Meanwhile, Miki and Ayumi are at work at the local bar. Both are fairly miserable in their lives, when a mysterious white ghost like figure appears. Their paths will cross with Yuki on a deeper level than one would imagine.

The Gift, Toshio has traveled from Tokyo in order for his estranged wife Meiko to sign divorce papers. Meiko would not sign them unless they were hand delivered by her husband. Annoyed and frustrated, Toshio got on a plane and here he is wanting to get their awful marriage finally finished. He and Meiko discuss their marriage and what possibly went wrong. Each blames the the other. Each blames themselves. Everything falls apart. Everything breaks down. Toshio simply wants Meiko to sign the divorce papers so they can each live their own lives. Before she does, she gives Toshio a gift... something that destroys his very soul and leaves him broken.

Teddy Bear, Sayaka walks through the streets at night. With her she carries Teddy, a stuffed bear and her best friend. She reflects on her life and her lost love. Sayaka misses him and tries not cry and she studies the city at night and wishes for rain. Rain, will clean everything and maybe bring him back. He asks Teddy to help stay strong as she walks through the night. She promises to take care of Teddy... she won't abandon Teddy like she was abandoned.

Cream Puff Explosion, Riko, Mizuki and Aya are reunited after five years. They used to be in a Japanese pop band together. They have all come together for Yuuka's wedding. As they three friends reminisce about the old days and about being young, some awful truths emerge from deeply hidden places and soon their friendship is tested as the lies of reality surface.

The Wonderful Elton Fuji, is a young artist. He is also a mute. His only way to express the beauty he sees in the world is through his art. He spends his days and nights sketching the world he sees. Elton is infatuated with the girl next door, the only way he knows how to tell her is through his art; one day he sketches a beautiful drawing for her and leave sit on her doorstep. What follows is a wonderful story of love without words and humanity through art.

Fireflies, is my newest story for Ashita. Etsu's father left her when she was just a little girl. But every year on her birthday she gets a letter from him. Etsu decides to travel outside of Japan to find her dad. She has so many questions, but she mainly wants to tell him he forgives him for leaving and she still loves him. When she finally finds her father's house, she meets her half sister Ami and discovers a frightening reality about her father. Things didn't quite go as Etsu had expected.

Well, that's Ashita in a nutshell I guess.

Ashita Stories

2007-08-06T06:27:00.000-07:00

I can’t believe this… it can’t be true. I swore—I promised. I’m done, I am not making another movie. I hate this industry, I hate people I want to live far, far away, maybe a small town in Japan making coffee and reading books all day. Why am I doing this then? Why can some people get through their entire lives without ever doing this? Why do I need to be more than that? Why?

I wake up, have a cup of coffee and try to keep my mind blank with cartoons and sports highlights. I want to control my thoughts—I want to be like everybody else. Then, it starts—the voice starts. It whispers to me “Help me”. Then, the image on TV is replaced by a scared girl running away. What is she running from? “Damn it” I tell myself. “I need to call the cable company, the channels are all mixed up.”

I finish my coffee and go in the shower. The running girl is back. She’s running, she’s covered in sweat, she’s scared, it’s late a night. “Help me,” she says. “Somebody please help me.” What’s chasing her? Why doesn’t she stay and fight? What can be so bad that she’s running so much? “Stop it!” I say to myself. “Forget it.”

I get out of the shower, I slowly get dressed and head outside. The morning air, will clear my head of any disturbing creativity. As I walk I listen to my iPod, reminding myself of all those meetings I had with TV and movie executives—reminding myself that these people are dumb, they can only work in show business—they’re not even fit to be rodeo clowns, I tell myself. Then, all of a sudden, it’s night—how did it become night?—in the distance I see woman—or is it a girl?—walking alone. She’s talking to herself—no wait, she’s talking to a teddy bear. What romantic and sad sight. I try to focus on her a bit more, I want to hear what she’s telling her bear—All of a sudden it is day again. The girl is gone. It’s happening again. I swore it would never happen again—I hate this. I need more coffee. Coffee can fix anything. I don’t even recognize the part of town I’m in, but I feel comforted because there is a Tim Horton’s—surely any place with a Timmy’s can’t be so evil. I wait in line for my large double, double and possible a Boston Cream donut, finest breakfast for a toonie. Standing in front of me I see a young woman with a backpack—just another tourist visiting our fair city. Then she looks at me and smiles, "I'm here to find my father."

Well, good for you.

“He's with the fireflies.” She says to me, then turns back to place her order. Man, I ought to lay off the caffeine.

I sit on the subway, trying to figure out how to be like everybody else, when I see the woman with her teddy bear again. She appears to be in full conversation with the bear, but I cannot understand a word they are saying. “What a strange woman,” I think to myself. I turn to look away and sitting behind me I see a a big haired guy with a sketch book almost as big as he is busy at work drawing. He's drawing me. He smiles and gives me a thumbs up.

I get off the subway, trying to understand what in the hell is going on today. When I pass by another girl, who sits quietly on the subway steps, she smokes a cigarette. Everything becomes slow motion as I walk by her, she has this grin on her face, I am not sure if she's smiling or if she is in pain. "I've got a gift for him," she says. "Something that will change everything."

I really gotta stop leaving my house.

Later that night as I fall asleep I begin to think of the people that I encountered over the day. The woman on the subway steps, the scared running girl and the woman with her teddy, the guy with the sketch book. In some strange way they all seem familiar to me. They’re all connected in some way. Can it be that simple…

As I fall asleep, the answer comes, maybe I don’t make movies—maybe the movies make me.

Ashita Back on Track

2007-08-02T11:28:00.000-07:00

How interesting things have been over the last few months. We shot our last frame of scripted Ashita (meaning anything that was written in the script) in early May.
In June we shot some sequences that were somewhat improvised with one of Toronto’s most prolific dancers Keiko Ninomiya (http://www.keiko.ca/). These sequences we shot with Keiko represent a type of story narration—much like the Chorus in ancient Greek theatre. Since the film is riddled with voice over by many of the characters, I felt that I needed some kind of overseer (this stems from my love of classic theatre and comic books) to be the puppet master or god who juggles these characters. I most certainly knew I did not want this character to talk. Upon watching a lot of Fellini movies, I got the idea for a mime or clown to be the film’s overseer. But that would change. As I edited a video I had shot of tomolennon’s art/fashion show I got to watching the dancers he had in his show. As watched and re-watched the Fellini movies, the mime was quickly changed for a dancer. Lucky for me, my lovely wife Izumi knows almost everybody in Toronto and when I mentioned to her my idea, she quickly threw Keiko’s name at me. And thus the new sequence grew. For a while, I was pent up on the dancer being a clown and I had discussed that I length with Keiko, but in the end, we went with a stoic white mask—which works and is completely frightening and sad at all the same time. I know I had a lot of fun shooting the dance sequences with Keiko and they will beautiful scenes and visually stunning.
As the post production progressed, Andy (the editor) and I discussed in great detail certain aspects of the movie and the overall feel of Ashita. I mentioned to Andy that I had certain reservations about the Miss Smiley story—this is the story of the angry female assassin that was brilliantly played by Leona Kitabayashi. I felt that the story was too different from the rest of Ashita. Of course when I wrote and shot it, it worked—but as things progressed the movie took on a new feel and the story about the assassin didn’t seem to flow with the rest of the film. Andy agreed with me and made a very good suggestion; he said he would edit it anyway and we would try it in Ashita, if it works great—if not, we have a stand alone short film. I got busy in writing a new story. I know one thing was for sure, I wanted to work with Leona again; she is a fine actor and is a pleasure to work with. When I met with Leona in July to inform her of what I had decided to do with her previous story in Ashita, I was a little nervous. I thought she was going to get angry and kung fu kick me, but luckily she was happy to work with me again (phew). Finally last week, I finished a new story called Fireflies—a much more somber story about a young lady named Etsu (played by Leona) who is looking for her father who abandoned her when she was just a little girl. I plan on shooting this story later this month.
Its funny how movies never seem to get made the way they are originally planned—based on my plans we should have been screening Ashita by now, then based on my revised plans we should have had a completed rough cut by now… but this, of, course is not the case. The case is, Ashita is right where its supposed to be. It’s a piece of art discovering itself. Like my cast and crew, I am excited to see the finished product, but I do not want to rush it… because I can see where it’s going and it will be brilliant.
On a sad, final note, this week saw the death of two of cinema’s greatest:

Ingmar Berman (July 12, 1918-July 30, 2007) who as a director, Bergman favored intuition over intellect, and chose to be unaggressive in dealing with actors. Bergman saw himself as having a great responsibility toward them, viewing them as collaborators often in a psychologically vulnerable position. He stated that a director must be both honest and supportive in order to allow others their best work. His films usually deal with existential questions of mortality, loneliness, and faith; they also tend to be direct and not overtly stylized. Persona, one of Bergman's most famous films, is unusual among Bergman's work in being both existentialist and avant-garde. I chose to pay homage to Bergman in Ashita by shooting as scene in the Teddy Bear story in which Sayaka (played wonderfully by Yoshiko Nomura) plays chess against her teddy bear… for those film enthusiasts reading this, you’ll know that one of Bergman’s most famous scenes—in fact one of the most famous scenes in cinema history is from his film The Seventh Seal where a man plays chess with the personification of death. I, like millions of others, love The Seventh Seal and I felt that a scene in which Sayaka plays chess against Teddy would not only pay homage to my love of films, but also bring a deep depth to Sayaka and what her stuffed bear symbolizes.

Michelangelo Antonioni (September 29, 1912 – July 30, 2007) was an Italian modernist film director whose films are widely considered as some of the most influential in film aesthetics. Film historian Virginia Wright Wexman describes Antonioni's perspective on the world as that of a "postreligious Marxist and existentialist intellectual." In a speech at Cannes about L'Avventura, Antonioni said that in the modern age of reason and science, mankind still lives by "a rigid and stereotyped morality which all of us recognize as such and yet sustain out of cowardice and sheer laziness". He said his films explore the paradox that "we have examined those moral attitudes very carefully, we have dissected them and analyzed them to the point of exhaustion. We have been capable of all this, but we have not been capable of finding new ones." Nine years later he expressed a similar attitude in an interview, saying that he loathed the word 'morality': "When man becomes reconciled to nature, when space becomes his true background, these words and concepts will have lost their meaning, and we will no longer have to use them." Most of Antonioni’s films explored themes of characters whose lives are empty and purposeless. Again, I studied his work extensively when preparing the melancholy tones of the characters in Ashita.
Both Bergman and Antonioni were gems to the film world and I can only hope that their influence on me and Ashita be minutely as good as their contributions to the cinematic art.

-MJ

More on Writing

2007-07-23T12:44:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I was sitting a place called Green Mango on Yonge and Bloor… at least I think it was called Green Mango… with Rumiko and Kana, two of the lovely ladies from Ashita’s story Cream Puff Explosion. And we were discussing acting and Ashita of course. I was thrilled to hear from both of them that they were excited to see the finished film and Rumiko quickly mentioned that if I were doing another film, that she would love to act for me again—I took that as the ultimate compliment.
The topic of the next film often comes up in my conversations with people working on this movie, again, their eagerness to want to work with me again is taken as the highest of all compliments. But, thankfully, I am not a big movie studio that churns out movies once a year… and I most certainly do not plan sequels while still in production of the first movie. Though, Ashita (the Japanese word for tomorrow) could easily have follow ups titles Today and Yesterday, but I do not work like that.
For me, writing is an escape from this crazy world we live in. The thought of being alone in a room with music, coffee and my imagination is refreshing. Sitting there creating a world, where I can be as violent or as peaceful as I want. I can hate, I can love, I can be happy, sad, angry… I can be or make whatever I want with this world. And usually I write when I have something to say, I don’t just write because I have to make another movie.
As a writer, Ashita has been the most interesting of all my projects, it’s the only film where I’ve had to remove an entire part of the story and replace with a new one. I guess this is either perfectionist or total insanity. But some people think that writing is simply writing about what happened to you. It’s more than that, its much, much more—it’s about bringing out all the moments in your life and all the feelings in your heart. Writing is less about documenting your experiences and more about what you retained from them. To be honest, I don’t think I’ll every stop writing, as to whether it will be a movie or not, I don’t know. I have often debated writing a novel. Recently, I wrote my very first manga (comic book) which was a lot of fun. My first film The Meatball Story, was never intended to be a made as a film. I wrote it as a play and was fully preparing to produce it as a play when the harsh realities of theatre (sometimes harsher than the realities of movies) came crashing into me like Optimus Prime at an Energon cube party (geek alert, geek alert).
Interestingly, today, I saw 8 people reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows a book released only 3 days ago and the last of Harry Potter global phenomenon series. For all you would be writers out there, lets take J.K. Rowling as an example—as in my previous entries, I make references to what literary muggles would refer to as obscure personalities. J.K. Rowling, from what I understand, was a single mother and unemployed at the time she wrote the first Harry Potter book. Based on my earlier statement of writing about how your life is affected by your experiences. Here is a lady, who had very little money, writing about a boy wizard, who will grow up to save the world and be the greatest wizard in history. Now, I highly doubt that Rowling was foreshadowing her future as the most successful authors ever and as the richest woman on the planet. Or did she? I will conclude with a quote by the great Neil Simon who once said: “If you can go through life without experiencing pain you probably haven't been born yet.” This coming from a man who wrote some of the greatest comedies of contemporary theatre. Interesting, n’est pas?

The Joys of Writing

2007-07-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

As writer I get to have fun with a lot of things. Especially with a project like Ashita, which, explores the deep rooted pain and reality of being human. In a movie where almost every character drinks heavily, cries or has some kind of emotional breakdown, I am often asked where I come up with these ideas.
My lovely and multi-talented wife, Izumi, who has been a tremendous support to me over the course of Ashita is the very first to read all my work, she is also the first I discuss all the topics and themes of Ashita with. Like any artist, I work to ask questions that will make the audience think and feel. I am firm believer that humans are creatures of passion and that most of the illogical or irrational things we do are from the passion of our feelings and emotions. This is what makes us interesting and unique. I also believe that in order to have the audience react to a character, we must present a character with emotions. Theatre and film writer/director David Mamet, whom I admire greatly, is quoted as saying: “A good film script should be able to do completely without dialogue.” I would disagree here, I think that humans communicate through words and emotions, when making a film like Ashita, which is the study of the complexity of being human, one must talk and must talk a significant amount. In movies, as in life, people may or may not say what they mean, but they always say something designed to get what they want. In most cases, people want to be happy and happiness is like those places in fairy tales that are guarded by big dragons, we must fight in order to get in. This is the point I am making with Ashita is that people lie, people cheat, people hurt others in their quest to be happy. People live in the past in their quest to be happy. People shut down their minds in order to try and be happy. You have to fight in order to be happy. So the questions that are asked in Ashita: Is better to hurt someone to make yourself happy or is better to hurt yourself to make others happy? If doing the right thing is right, then why does it not always lead to happiness? Is happiness finite or is it different to everybody? What is loneliness? These themes are bounced all over Ashita’s six stories and
Like the great Alexandre Dumas said: “If God were suddenly condemned to live the life which He has inflicted upon men, He would kill Himself.”

The Geeks of Popular Culture

2007-07-12T12:25:00.000-07:00

I’ve been into comics lately both the traditional North American and the Japanese manga. Every few months I get in my Manga mood and I have deep routed urges to read art.

Again many people will point and snicker at me when I am in seen in public with a manga or comic book. There is a certain geek sigma with reading these (some sorry souls may not even consider it reading). To be honest, I find odd to ostracize anyone who is so largely into popular culture. Let’s be realistic here, who on the planet has not heard of Superman, Batman and Spider-Man? Superman along with Mickey Mouse and Elvis are among the most recognized figures in the world. There must be a lot of geeks (and Elvis fans) in the world. And if we look even deeper at Superman we will see how a character created in 1932 by American writer Jerry Seigel and Canadian artist Joe Shuster went on to span over three generations and almost 75 years in popular culture.
The first adaptation of Superman was as a daily newspaper comic strip, launching on January 16, 1939. The strip ran until May 1966, and significantly, Siegel and Shuster used the first strips to establish Superman's backstory, adding details such as the planet Krypton and Superman's father, Jor-El, concepts not yet established in the comic books. Following on from the success of this was the first radio series, The Adventures of Superman, which premiered on February 12, 1940 and featured the voice of Bud Collyer as Superman. The series ran until March, 1951. Collyer was also cast as the voice of Superman in the Fleischer Studios animated cartoons, distributed via movie theatres. Seventeen shorts were produced between 1941 and 1943. By 1948 Superman was back in the movie theatres, this time in a filmed serial, Superman, with Kirk Alyn becoming the first actor to portray Superman on screen. A second serial, Atom Man vs. Superman, followed in 1950.
In 1951 a television series was commissioned, starring George Reeves, with the pilot episode of the series gaining a theatrical release as Superman and the Mole Men. The series ran for a 104 episodes, from 1952–1958. The next adaptation of Superman occurred in 1966, when Superman was adapted for the stage in the Broadway musical It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman. The play wasn't successful, closing after 128 performances, although a cast album recording was released. However, in 1975 the play was remade for television. Superman was again animated, this time for television, in the series "The New Adventures of Superman". 68 shorts were made and broadcast between 1966 and 1969. Bud Collyer again provided the voice for Superman. Then from 1973 until 1984 ABC broadcast the "Super Friends" series, this time animated by Hanna-Barbera.
Superman returned to movie theatres in 1978, with director Richard Donner's Superman starring Christopher Reeve. The film spawned three sequels, Superman II (1980), Superman III (1983) and Superman IV: The Quest For Peace (1987). In 1988 Superman returned to television in the Ruby Spears animated series Superman, and also in Superboy, a live action series which ran from 1988 until 1992.In 1993 Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman premiered on television, starring Dean Cain as Superman and Teri Hatcher (who’s still super hot, by the way) as Lois Lane. The series ran until 1997. Superman: The Animated Series was produced by Warner Bros. and ran from 1996 until 2000 on The WB Television Network In 2001 the Smallville television series launched, focussing on the adventures of Clark Kent as a teenager before he dons the mantle of Superman. In 2006 Bryan Singer directed Superman Returns, starring Brandon Routh as Superman.
I won’t list all the music references to Superman, but some of the most popular ones have been: Kryptonite by Three Doors Down and Superman (It's Not Easy) by Five for Fighting and a few others from Barbara Streisand, Eminem, R.E.M and The Kinks.
And here’s my personal favorite thing about Superman: Jerry Seinfeld, a noted Superman fan, filled his series Seinfeld with references to the character, and in 1997 asked for Superman to co-star with him in a commercial for American Express. The commercial aired during the 1998 NFL Playoffs and Super Bowl, Superman animated in the style of artist Curt Swan, again at the request of Seinfeld.
All this being noted, can we really say that comics are only for geeks? By the looks of it, the world is full of geeks like me or Spider-Man 3 would not have made $884 459 679 (US) at the box office.
To those of you who have been called a geek, be proud, we out number the rest of them. To those of you closet comic fans, come on out—we love you. And to those of you who have always wanted to make your own comic, do it! The world always needs more heroes and its never too late for you do something you love… my good friend Luc is a brilliant example of that, he will soon be the next great Batman writer.
And finally to those of you who have no interest in comics: Why did you read this far anyway?

-MJ

Getting it done

2007-07-03T14:03:00.000-07:00

I had interesting conversation the other day with someone who wants to be a writer. She’s asked me for inspiration and how I do it. Well, honestly, there’s no secret to writing. Just pick up a pencil and paper, or sit in front of your computer and do it. That’s it, that’s the key. Doing it. Writing, like anything is not accomplished by simply wishing to do it.
I firmly believe that half of anyone’s success is simply because they showed up and committed to doing it. So if you want to write something, sit down and do it. Don’t be afraid, don’t think of excuses—in fact, don’t even think. Just sit down and do it. When it’s done, you will feel better about yourself and you may be inspired to do more. Not one of my films would have been made if I did not commit from day one that I was going to actually do—and not only me, everybody working on it as well committed to it.
Often I find that people are inspired when they work with me, I am not sure if its me and my personality or if it’s the fact that people are watching a movie get made, but often people feel a creative streak after working with me. Sadly a lot of them do nothing about it and feel depressed and constantly ask me: “How do you do it?” Again, I commit. It’s often not easy, and sometimes it drives me insane, but I love it. If you want something… commit to it, there is nothing more to it. If you want to be an actor, commit to acting, study it, learn from it, try and do it any which way you can. Same thing if you want to be a writer, read, study, learn… and then finally create. Write everything. Write stories. And don’t worry if they are bad or good, get it done finish it, then worry about making it better or making the next one better.
This person also asked me to push her. Really bug her to write something… the truth is I cannot push you—nobody can push you if you are not willing to commit and start doing it.

Doing it Right

2007-06-25T14:34:00.001-07:00

"What was a little daunting," (Alex) Kurtzman said about writing Star Trek XI, "was while we were writing it, they sent over a poster with the release date on it. We hadn't written ‘fade in' yet."
I read the above in an article in the New York Times about the newest Star Trek movie. Which is, basically, a re-imagining of the franchise and all of Star Trek, which is disturbing enough—let alone forcing somewhat competent filmmakers to try and get it done by a pre-established date! Does anyone in Hollywood believe in doing things right anymore?
A delicate piece of cinematic and television history and a pop culture icon for 40 years is at play here, why not do it right instead of aiming to get it out fast. As both a Star Trek fan and cinema fan, I say do not rush things, do them properly—in the end your audience (new and old) will appreciate you.
My newest film Ashita is taking much longer than we had all hoped, and I am forced with difficult decisions in cutting out scenes and characters, but what is foremost in my mind is doing what’s right for the movie. I absolutely refuse to rush my brilliant editor (Andy Bely) into rushing a cut, just so I can appease people and show them a finished film. I am still shooting and writing some scenes, because in the end I want Ashita to be done properly. I want to be loyal to the message I want to send. And I believe that the audience will appreciate the movie because of that.

Sci-Fi Geek

2007-06-22T13:51:00.000-07:00

For as long as I can remember I have loved science fiction. For as long as I can remember I have been made of for it. But the truth of it all, is that science fiction has helped shaped the world. Laugh at me if you will, call me a geek (though I think the picture of me sitting in Picard’s chair on the bride of the Enterprise is really cool), but read on and be enlightened if you will.
Let’s start with the classics. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Brave New World by Aldus Huxley and of course Nineteen Eighty-Four (or 1984) by George Orwell. It has been translated into 62 languages and has left a profound impression upon the English language itself. Nineteen Eighty-Four, its terminology and its author have become bywords when discussing privacy and state-security issues. The term "Orwellian" has come to describe actions or organizations reminiscent of the totalitarian society depicted in the novel, and the phrase "Big Brother is watching" has come to mean any act of surveillance that is perceived as invasive.
Nineteen Eighty-Four has, at times, been seen as revolutionary and politically dangerous and therefore was banned by many libraries in various countries, even besides those countries controlled by totalitarian regimes.
The novel was chosen by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present.
Not bad for a bunch of geeky science fiction, huh?
What about some modern day classics, things like Blade Runner, which explores the relations between man and machine. Can man love machine? Will man one day create a machine so complex and sophisticated to match his own image? If you look at the research and achievements in the Japanese robotics industry those questions asked in the 1982 film (which by the way was listed by the American Film Institute as the 98th greatest movie ever made) or the novel it was based on: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Or what about The Running Man the 1987 movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger; In the year 2019, commodities like oil and food are scarce, and the world economy has collapsed. The great freedoms of the United States are no longer, as the nation has sealed off its borders and become a militarized police state, censoring all film, art, literature, and communications. With full control over the media, the government attempts to quell the nation's yearning for freedom by broadcasting a number of game shows on which convicted criminals fight for their lives. The most popular and sadistic of these programs is The Running Man, hosted by Damon Killian. This evidently shows the birth of reality television… Again, what people laughed, realize today that these post modern views are not so far away.
The work of William Gibson tells of people’s lives on the internet, look at things like Facebook or MySpace where people can forgo traditional publicity, avoid the big corporation and attract their own viewers on a free medium. YouTube does the same for visual artists. You don’t need to screen your short film anywhere, upload it on YouTube and build a fan base through Facebook… watch as you become famous.
And coming back to Star Trek, the highest selling phone in 2006 was the Motorola Razr, which a flat flip phone based on the flip-to-open communicator designed on Star Trek 40 years ago.

The Reality of Things

2007-06-04T10:59:00.000-07:00

The first television show to incorporate a laugh track was The Hank McCune Show in 1950. TV Producers decided to bring in a laugh track because TV audiences at home felt reluctant to laugh because nobody else was laughing with them (sure laughing alone is a sign of insanity), so out came the canned laughter where if you were at home alone watching a TV show, it was now okay to laugh because some mysterious audience was also doing it. This was a key tool for the TV world because the laugh track became more important than the joke or comedy on the screen. Like Pavlov's dog, audiences at home agreed with the TV that whatever they were seeing was funny because they weren't alone. Studio audiences came along a little later to make things a little more "believable" with their giant red flashing signs that almost beg the nearly incoherent audience to applaud or laugh. But as audiences got smarter and ignored the big red flashing signs, a new trick was brought about by the TV powers, this was a process known as "Sweetening" which, basically is a laugh track or applause track when the studio audience does not react favorably. Essentially it is a laugh track for the studio audience... If you have the misfortune of being in the studio audience of a TV show and the jokes they bring forth are not funny and nobody laughs the people in the control room will pump a laugh track through studio speakers, so at least when people at home watch it they will maybe agree its funny, or more importantly the people paying for this show will undoubtedly believe their money has been put to good use because, apparently people are laughing at a funny part.
Reality TV is the one step further in the evolution of audience manipulation. The laugh track simply informed the audience as to what was funny--reality TV, disturbingly influences audiences to into gossip. Some genius somewhere analyzed North American culture and realized that most people are not content with minding their own business and are far more satisfied with minding other people's business and watching some body's downfall for their own entertainment... ladies and gentleman we are back to the days of public hangings. People are far too bored with their own lives that they seek out reality television in order to watch other people live a dream, or more interestingly get their dreams smashed and destroyed. Audiences can now take refuge in their bad days at the office, because they got off easier than that poor kid who can't sing on American Idol--who wouldn't rather be with an uncaring boss over the scowls of Simon yelling at you and telling you that you are pathetic and your dream will never come true. Surely watching someones heartbreak is much easier than dealing with your own inabilities in life... after all I may be a loser, but I am certainly not as big a loser as that guy that nobody likes on the island in Survivor, boy, I'd be in serious trouble if I were him...
A lot of people will probably go on to say that I am bitter and that reality TV is nothing more than escapism. My answer, is yes and no. Yes, television is sense of escape for your daily routine and in meant to entertain you. But when does it become poor taste? Is American Idol really in good taste? Does manufacturing a celebrity really sound like good idea. How would you, as an individual feel if you were told on live TV, with millions watching, that the company you work for did not reach its goal and there is no annual bonus this year and you cannot put the down payment on the Lexus you've been dreaming about. It would suck wouldn't it? Well think of how these subjects feel on reality TV. Yes, they maybe foolish or just naive for participating on these shows... some just want to be famous and oh what a price they pay!
I target American Idol because it is by far the most popular of all television whore festivals. People gather around and vote for the newest manufactured celebrity, who's album and t-shirts they will run to buy 3 weeks after the show is done... how special the audience is.
How very special.

Indie v.s. Pro

2007-06-01T07:38:00.000-07:00

I had an interesting conversation the other day with an old friend. He asked me why I stopped working professionally in the film business and decided to go the route of independant filmmaker. To say working as a writer or director is whoring yourself is unfair, because the people who hire me make things clear: they will pay me so much to direct such and such a thing for which they can do whatever they please. Much like a house painter, he is hired by you and paid $300 to paint a room, which ever colour you choose. A month after the job you can smash teh walls down or repaint them or anything, the painter doesn't car (or at least he's not supposed to) because he was paid to do job the way you wanted it. Same thing, if you go to Best Buy and buy a Toshiba TV, take the TV home, grab a baseball bat and smash the TV into a million pieces will Toshiba or Best Buy care? No. You paid for it, you can do whatever you want with it. It's the same with movie studios, they pay me, they expect me to do what they want. It would be unfair for me to assume that they would give me artistic freedom or would be take "business decision" do allow me to do whatever I want with their investment. Would anybody walk into a bank and hand their banker a big pile of cash and say: "Here, do whatever you want with it" ? Surely not.
Thus by working independantly, I am an artist and have the freedom to do whatever I choose. Because show business is just that, a business it is there to make money... and I am not the type of person who handles being told how to write or how to make a film. So I do not blame the studios, I can't... they are doing what they are supposed to do. And I, as an artist, chose the freedom over the money. Becuase I do not deal well with watching some tear down the wall I just painted, I am too proud.
I am happy with my choice.

Making Movies

2007-05-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

There have been millions of things written on making movies... none of them the same, none of them right or wrong. All of the great directors (and some of the not so great ones too) have all had their say on the nature, purpose and process of making a movie. Who's theory is better? Welles or Bergman? Hitchcock or Peckinpah? Fellini or Kurosawa? Kazan or Fuller? Name after name, I could make a list of the hundreds of well respected directors who have written on the subject of their art or trade. How does one study movies or leanr how to make movies?
The first option that comes to mind in today's society is, of course, film school. You can pay a lot of money to attend a University and be taught how to make a movie. This is a useless option, trust me, I speak from experience. Film school, much like any art school is an ego bloating party where those on the inside shameless attack and compliment each other into believing they are somehow superior to the outside world because they are artist and being an artist is your birthright into an enlightened existence--come to think of it, this sounds an awful lot like Hollywood. Film schools are stupid, throw rocks at them. Film school gives you no preparation for what lies in the outside world, especially if you want to be a director. If you are more sensical and want a career as a technician or in special effects or post production, you are less likely to get the heavy foot of reality kicking your ass.
If you want to be a movie director, film school is the worst place to go. I would recommend going to business and management school, take a minor in film studies and take acting classes on weekends. Business to learn management, budgeting, sales and negociation skills. Film studies so you can watch what the great film aueteurs did and learn from them. And finally acting classes so you understand your actors and what they learned and what its like to be in their shoes.
Because as a director, especially independantly (nobody will hand you a $100 Million budget right out of film school--if ever) you will need to know how to motivate people to work for free or for cheap. You will need how to get things done without a million assistants--more than likely you will be spending your own money, so learning how to make a sophistacted budget would be a great help.
A lot of people I know often tell me they wish they could make movies. "Go ahead and do it," I say. In fact go ahead and chase your dream no matter what it is and no matter what age you are or what stage of life you're in. Making a movie is simple enough, you need a camera, someone to operate it, a story, actors and editing. Well, with today's technologically evolved world these things are not hard to come by. You can buy a good quality digital video camera for under $2000, you can get a editing software for any PC for as little at $60 and if you tell people you are making a movie, you will see that it's not hard to get someone to act in it for free...
If you want to make a movie go ahead, if you want to go to school go ahead, or if you just want to pick up a camera and film stuff go ahead. That's the essence of cinema, experiment and developing new things and ideas. Go ahead, make a movie.

Cinema is a liar

2007-05-28T12:28:00.000-07:00

"Je suis un menteur qui dit toujours la verite" Jean Cocteau

I am liar who always tells the truth. Isn't that the very essence of filmmaking. The stories I write and bring to the screen are all made up, they are in the words of Fellini "supreme fictions" an in simpler terms they are simply lies. Lies that reveal truth--truth in the human condition. Afterall, don't all lies lead to the ultimate truth. Cinema is the language of lies, everything you are shown or told is not real, but in some cases is allows you to have a greater undertsanding of reality and of truth. A lie, or something created is as real as you see it. Is not a movie real for its duration, is not the time you watch the movie a time you spend believing its reality. Is the lie cinema is telling you really a lie. Who defines the difference between imaginary and real? Is not the artist the medium, the determining factor between fantasy and the rest of the world?

How ficticious is art? How much of a lie is it really? Does not every artist put a piece of himself in his art? If this is indeed the case does not all art have fundamental truth in its perceived existence of lies? Or the feelings it brings about in its audience, the very human, very true feelings that the lies bring out? What do we make of them? Do the feelings and reflections of truth brought out by the lie of cinema mean that the lie is justified? Do they make the lie real?

Is cinema a lie or is a human way of discovering truth?

-MJ

On Making Movies

2007-05-27T18:45:00.000-07:00

I sit in the editing room with Andy the editor, Izumi has got the headphones on, translating the scenes into rough English to allow Andy to cut the film together. Almost a year has passed since we began this little adventure titled Ashita. I feel old... and since I joined Facebook I feel even older. I see so many people from my past and I remember clearly in my young days, I had promised--I had sworn by the time I reached today I would be successful... I would be somebody. I sit and watch Andy and Izumi work and I smile--success is a state of mind. Am I happy with my world? After all am I not doing what I've always wanted to do? A lot of people will say that making movies my way is a sign of success, I will thank them and say, that being married to a wonderful woman who understands why I need to make movies is a better sign of success. Being surrounded by people who have a genuine interest in my ideas--people who help to bring my dream to life is a sign of success.
I have a lot of regrets in my life, there are a lot of things I wish I could change, but the past is just that... I can't undo it. There are very few things in my life that make sense, my wife is one and these movies I make are another. Good or bad, my movies are a part of me--with each one I grow and find deeper meaning in the art. And good or bad, I am proud of them. When people get interested in making movies, acting or performing they are quick to want fame and fortune... but some of us realize that our need, our passion for our art is not about fame and fortune, in fact its about something much deeper, much more personal. That's the only way I can explain it, there is no way to describe it properly, it's just inside you... like a dark secret that the whole world can see.

The New Film

2007-05-25T18:34:00.000-07:00

Films are made with two things, passion and luck. Luck is the biggest aspect of it all. You need to be lucky to make a film, you need to be lucky to find the right people with the right talent and the right passion who are all willing to get involved with your tiny, insane idea.

I am very lucky.

I have made two films previously and now I am almost done my third. I count my blessings every single day. Sure, I will complain and constantly be exhausted, but it's not everybody that can follow their dream so closely. So I thank every single person who has given a second of their time to any and all of my films.

Ashita is my third and is the biggest group of people I have worked with. It's almost a year since preproduction began and again, I am very lucky. The people involved, from production, post production to music and even marketing and film festival organization are wonderful. I will always keep them in my heart--no one who believes in you or your ideas should ever be shut out of your life. Yes, sometimes I get angry or disappointed, but these people have given so much of themselves for an idea I had--most of them began when it was only written on paper and excitedly got involved with this project. It truly is amazing.

When the long nights of shooting or editing are done, it all kicks in my mind, this is really what making movies is about. It's not about the fame or the money, it's not about the fancy cars, it's about exploring the human condition through various forms of art. I wouldn't trade my conversations with Andy (editor), Don (music, singer of The Zoobombs) or Izumi (producer, actor and my wife) about movies or about the meaning of things for a fancy car. I wouldn't trade the passion I've seen in people's eyes on set or in meetings for the ability to sign a few autographs. Because what truly makes a movie is people. People--human beings, that's what my movies are about, I would be very foolish if I forgot that people make movies with me and they do it because they believe in me... and I believe in all of them too.

What a great place this world would be if we all believed in each other.

-MJ