Wakamatsu's "Caterpillar" at the FCCJ

Yesterday evening the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ) held the Japan premiere of Wakamatsu Kôji's film Caterpillar (『キャタピラー』) to an absolutely packed room. As you can see in the photo I snapped, Wakamatsu and lead actors Terajima Shinobu and Ohnishi Shima were in attendance.

I like to recycle so here are a couple of tweets I made about the film on the way home:

Just saw Wakamatsu's Caterpillar. A powerful, economically made anti-war missile. Terajima and Ohnishi both fantastic.

Caterpillar is no-holds barred but also has a moments of peace and humour.

Needless to say, Terajima deserved every bit of the prestigious best actress award she won in Berlin. Her performance as war hero wife Shigeko encompasses just about every conflicting emotion a woman could feel. Terajima never steps wrong and proves once again that to refuse or compromise a great role because it requires nudity is ridiculous, but an attitude all too common in Japan (see my October 11, 2009 entry for more on this issue). I'm even happier Terajima's face adorns the top of my recent CNNGo article on great actors (see my March 26 entry). Ohnishi also deserves much credit for a physically tough role that relies almost entirely on his eyes.

As you may have read, this startling film was shot in 12 days and edited in 13 hours(!) Caterpillar comes in at 85 minutes with not one second wasted. (Even at three-plus hours, Wakamatsu's previous film United Red Army has an extremely low body fat index.) There are countless things young filmmakers could learn from a director like Wakamatsu. The simple intercutting of the film's denouement has more power in its pinkie finger than what most directors with ten times the resources manage.

The post-screening Q&A covered many topics: Wakamatsu's amusing thoughts on the Tennô sei (Japan's Emperor system); reducing the amount of music in the film to let Terajima's performance shine through; how a famous Japanese musician may contribute to the soundtrack before the film's roll-out release (which coincides with various WWII memorial dates); how each actor regarded their characters; Wakamatsu's memories of his wartime childhood; and how great Terajima looks in monpe (women's work pants).

Keep an eye on world sales company Dissidenz' official site for news of upcoming screenings of this great film.