Now, I...

As I mentioned in my previous post about Nippon Connection, I wanted to highlight one film in particular that impressed me. Actually, it’s not unlike the situation with last year’s Pia Film Festival discovery This World of Ours (collected posts here), which also played at NC.

Once again we have a young man in his 20s who’s literally never made a film before, writing a script, picking up a digital video camera and putting his heart and soul into a feature length film, with startlingly confident and effective results.

The film is Now, I... (Ima, Boku Wa, 『今、僕は』), directed by Chikuma Yasutomo (竹馬靖具監督), screened as a world premiere in this year’s Nippon Digital programme at Nippon Connection.

Now, I... is the story of Satoru (Chikuma Yasutomo), a 20-year-old “NEET” (Not currently engaged in Employment, Education or Training) who lives at home with his single mother, refusing to do anything except play video games, eat junk food and sleep. It’s not just a “phase” – Satoru is destined for a life of nothingness.

His mom is naturally worried sick but their communication is limited to short bursts of frustration and slammed doors in their cramped apartment. She finally decides to take some initiative and has a former co-worker pay a visit to Satoru one morning, ready to escort him to his new job. Satoru has never worked a day in his life. He stands at the apartment's genkan, matted hair, squinting at the morning sun, barely able to have a conversation with the soft-spoken Mr. Fujisawa (Fujisawa Yoshiharu).

Fujisawa eventually gets Satoru into the car and they drive to a local winery in the film’s Tochigi Prefecture setting. They arrive and Fujisawa dutifully introduces Satoru to his new co-workers. Satoru's complete lack of social skills is painfully evident.

Simple tasks such as scrubbing floors and rotating bottles are major challenges for Satoru, with typical newbie reprimands cutting deeper than they would on a normal person. Fujisawa, who lost his younger brother years prior, treats Satoru with kid gloves. Despite his calm and friendly nature, you can feel Fujisawa's desperate efforts to rescue Satoru from himself.

Like a house cat that’s never ventured into the outside world, Satoru is by turns cowering and curious. He accompanies Fujisawa to a baseball game but ends up wandering off and skipping rocks on the river.

Things seem to be going okay, but Fujisawa's sincere efforts to get closer to Satoru, the realities of holding down a job and an unforseen tragedy push Satoru over the edge...



The NEET phenomenon is not unique to Japan -- the term was coined in the UK (see here). Nonetheless, it's an increasing problem in Japanese society. This is nothing to do with fashionable otakuism, but a more deep-rooted problem of young people, generally male, who just don’t want to do anything. The severe culture gap between NEETs and their hard working parents’ generation has led to an increase in child-on-parent violence, sometimes ending in homicide.

Talking with Chikuma-san at NC, he sadly told me he based the character of Satoru on actual friends of his that fit the profile (while This World Of Ours director Nakajima Ryô was himself a hikikomori).

Now, I...'s budget was a microscopic 500,000 yen, so like any smart independent filmmaker Chikuma used what resources were available to him, including the winery.

The film is shot completely handheld (on the Panasonic AG-DVX100 24P) and amazingly never steps wrong. The camera constantly hovers at eye level, framing Satoru in an uncomfortable medium close up. With eyes always averted and head partially dropped below frame center, it’s as if you can feel the crushing burden of life weighing on his shoulders.

The interspersion of wordless scenes, the film’s pacing and the naturalistic dialogue (a lot harder to write than it comes across) are all the work of a pro. Except in this case the pro skipped basic training and amateur league all together. It’s called natural born talent.

Although I believed Chikuma’s filmmaker fairytale about never having shot a film before, there was no way he had no previous acting experience. His performance as Satoru was too transformative, too internally accurate to be just simple imitation. So I wasn’t surprised when he told me he studied method acting (Stanislavski school) for a year and has stage experience, including Asagaya’s Theatre Samsa, under the Laputa cinema. Starring in his own film is not about ego but is instead Now, I...’s secret weapon.

I’m really excited by Japan’s young actors (such as United Red Army’s Jibiki Gô) who take the craft seriously instead of as a tarento agency afterthought to singing, dancing and comedy skills. I’m even more excited by this new breed of filmmakers that are producing great work through sheer force of will.

Chikuma Yasutomo is already working on his next feature project now, but details are under wraps. Mark my words – this is a filmmaker to keep an eye on.