Japan's Next Great Director - Hitoshi Matsumoto's "Saya-zamurai"

It goes without saying that there's been a lot of upheaval in Japan this spring. This part of the country is beginning to normalize, but full recovery in Tôhoku will take years. On a personal front I've been simultaneously waylaid and kept occupied, with a considerable amount of freelance work including subtitles, a screenplay polish, and a Japan Cannes special for Screen. My film viewing has been spotty at best. Other than five or six titles at the Okinawa International Movie Festival (OIMF) I've only seen a handful of films since March.

I did, however, make sure I caught a press screening of Saya-zamurai (『さや侍』) at Shochiku HQ in Higashi-Ginza on Thursday. This is the third directorial effort by famed comedian Matsumoto Hitoshi (松本人志), who previously gave us Dai Nipponjin and Symbol. Once again, Matsumoto's film is produced by powerful talent agency Yoshimoto Kôgyô, which he's belonged to for almost 30 years (they also run the aforementioned OIMF).

Potential mild spoilers follow.


For those who don't partake in the Tweetverse, following are some blurbs of mine related to the screening:

Saya-zamurai is BRILLIANT. Madness it didn't get a shot at Palme d'Or glory. Matsumoto was a very creative director, but now he is an Artist

『さや侍』は素晴らしい作品です！期待をはるかに超えました。松本監督が今から国際的に認知されるんじゃない。北野のレベルで。
(translation: "Saya-zamurai is magnificent! It far exceeded my expectations. I think it will gain Matsumoto international attention at the level of Kitano.")

@hori_naka マジですよ！映画鑑賞中、10年に1～2回しか泣かない。この作品はその中の一本で～す。
(translation: "I only cry at movies around once or twice a decade. This is one of those times.")

@hori_naka Yes, kooky Nomi Takaaki - 働くおっさん - will make people everywhere cry. And samurai movie lovers will die!


Some brief background on the film: Nomi Takaaki (野見隆明) plays samurai and local "water level adjuster" Nomi Kanjûrô. We meet Nomi during a desperate escape through the woods from some unseen conflict. After collapsing in exhaustion his little daughter Tae (Kumada Sea) catches up to him and we realize Nomi has thrown away his sword out of refusal to fight, leaving only its scabbard ("saya") at his hip. Going rônin violates the laws of the land and there's soon a price out on Nomi's head. Now on the lam, Nomi suffers Tae's relentless chastising ("You call yourself a samurai?") and attempts to kill him by a trio of bumbling assassins (Ryô, ROLLY and Fukkin Zennosuke) in taciturn shame. He's soon arrested and presented to an eccentric lord (Kunimura Jun) who offers Nomi a way to clear his name: The boy prince has lost the ability to smile since the death of his mother and Nomi has exactly 30 days to bring that smile back or he must commit seppuku. No man has succeeded in the feat thus far, and so begins the battle of, and for, Nomi's life...

Making his big screen debut, Nomi Takaaki is a real-life oddball who has worked as a chef, a seller of paintings, and currently a bartender in Golden Gai (right next to Yoshimoto's Tokyo HQ). He's appeared numerous times on Matsumoto's comedy shows since 2003, including Hataraku Ossan Gekijô (something like "Working Stiff Theater"), which was broadcast from 2006-2007. Here is a video of Nomi's first appearance. It's in Japanese but you'll quickly get a sense of what he's like. It's not an act.





When I heard the concept behind Saya-zamurai, and even while watching the film, there was a tinge of cruelty in the idea of putting this hopelessly awkward man in his 50s through such outrageous physical humiliations -- everything from being thrown from an elaborate mechanical rodeo horse, to snorting udon noodles, to being shot out of a cannon into the sea. But when Nomi's pièce de résistance arrives, the true samurai spirit of this film bursts to the fore. It's no accident that Matsumoto gave his protagonist the same family name.

Kumada Sea, who plays Tae, deserves a huge amount of praise. At all of 9 years old (and looking even younger) she plays an incredibly strong female character who commands the screen on many occasions. Her range outdoes most of her adult contemporaries. I'll be shocked and disappointed if she isn't nominated for best actress laurels (and a lock on a "best newcomer" Japan Academy Prize).

I don't know how audiences or critics will receive the film, but I was floored. I was floored because everything that came before the end built up to it in an atypical way. There was a cumulative effect that worked almost subconsciously. And yet it's all there in Matsumoto's expertly written screenplay. Those who dug the helpings of WTF in Dai Nipponjin and Symbol may be disappointed in Saya-zamurai's more orthodox narrative. For me, it distills Matsumoto's deeply developed comedy sense, humiliation and all, anchored by a father-daughter story that may not have been possible for him to depict before having a little girl of his own (born just after Symbol was completed). In only three films, self-confessed movie geek Matsumoto has achieved a coalescing of ideas and aesthetics in the way Kitano did with Hana-bi.

Yoshimoto told me how disappointed they were that Saya-zamurai didn't get into Cannes. I can clearly see why they were pinning their hopes on it. Perhaps "two samurai films" was too much for the competition there, but original work (which all of Matsumoto's films have been) should trump remakes or adaptations in my opinion.

In summary, Matsumoto has taken a major step forward with Saya-zamurai. There is still plenty of the playful (and highly imaginative) goofiness found in his other work, but here it's such an integral part of a story that builds to an unexpected emotional wallop.

Looking forward to hearing other views.