By Tom Mes
Translator: Yi Ersan
Proofreader: Onegin
Source: Midnight Eye (February 11, 2002)
When Min finished his directorial debut in 1997, he thought the film wouldn't be too good, but "The House of the Unma" was an international success and was widely acclaimed. With its dazzling narrative techniques and rather mature themes, "The Unma's House" has finally convinced many people that animation may not just be a medium for children.
"The House of the Unhemp"
Now, four years after his rise to prominence, the former protégé of Katsuyo Otomo has dedicated his second work, Millennium Actress. Instead of falling into the "second-work slump", Imatoshi directed a more valuable successor. "Millennium Actress" is another example of his superb narrative skills and a grand and fascinating tribute to the history of Japanese cinema.
Millennium Actress
Reporter: What are your thoughts on the success of "The House of The Unhemped" and its long-term influence?
Imatoshi: All I can say is that it was a surprise. Because "The House of Unhemp" was originally prepared for the video market. As its creator, I was actually a little hesitant about it being released in theaters. As a result, the film was invited to many film festivals and had a large audience. I've also been to a lot of countries, so I'm happy about that. But the audience appreciated the film far more than I could have imagined, so I was confused at the same time.
Reporter: Wasn't "Unma's House" originally created as a live-action video? Can you talk about how this project turned into animation?
Toshi Ima: I've heard that "The House of the Unma" is going to be made into a live-action movie, but I don't know much about the specific process. In the beginning, it was the original author (Yoshikazu Takeuchi) who wanted to adapt the novel into a movie, and he also started the project. He met with a number of production companies and approached Asako Sato, the director of Dark Mage, to direct the film. In the end, the plan to adapt it into a live-action movie fell through, so someone decided to turn the project into an animation. They came to me after making a decision, so I didn't know much about the previous process.
Their script was written by the original author. I haven't read novels, but I don't think his script is very interesting. So I said, "If you're going to stick with this script, I don't want to direct this movie." But if you accept my adaptation, I'm willing to give it a try." They agreed, so they took over the guide. They wanted to preserve the three elements of the story: "idol", "horror" and "stalker". Other than that, I could adapt it as I wanted, so we changed a lot of things, even the plot.
Reporter: So the story of the movie is completely different from the novel?
Imatoshi: Yes. In particular, the concept of a play within a play, and the blurring of the line between the real world and the imagination, is my idea, not in the novel.
Reporter: I want to talk about your own use of the Internet. Your work seems to be primarily a medium of personal expression, right?
Imatoshi: Well, in a sense yes. Before making animation, I was a manga artist. I used to study at the University of Fine Arts, and I wanted to make a living by drawing, to become an illustrator or a cartoonist. By chance, I started my career as a cartoonist in college, but when you make comics, you need a talent for creating stories and scheduling on a visual level. I learned these things when I was drawing comics, so it's kind of job training. Later I started doing animation and needed some skills beyond comics, because time and sound would also play a role in it.
If you want to create a good story, you need dialogue. All in all, there are a lot of things you need to deal with. During that period, I began to realize that while time, sound, and dialogue were all new aspects, the core of the creative process was still me and what I wanted to express.
Im myself
Building your own homepage is just another way of saying it. If you're dealing with text, then the home page is an ideal tool. Also a good writing exercise. So I decided to make a website of my own. But it wasn't meant to explain me or my personality to others, and I didn't expect so many people to go through it and they gave a lot of feedback, which surprised me. I would be happy if people were interested in my work, but not if they were interested in me. So when I get these reactions, I don't know how to keep my distance from them. Maybe that's one of the reasons I don't write on my site anymore (laughs).
Reporter: Did your own experience of making the website have any impact on the story of "The House of the Unhemp"?
Toshi Ima: Actually, the production of "Unma's House" prompted me to set up my own website, so the opposite is true. I only built the website after the completion of "The House of unhemp". Before making this movie, I had no access to the Internet. I don't even have a computer. So in order to make "The House of unhemp", I bought a computer and started learning.
Reporter: So the Internet doesn't exist in the original novel?
Imatoshi: That's right. For the plot of the movie, there needs to be a more realistic place for the unhemp to appear. That is, it is closer to the public image than the real unhemp. Moreover, it must have been created by another character, not by the unmachine itself. So I thought about it for a while and decided to do it through the website. After making the film, I wanted to document the production process, and the website was a good choice.
No room setting
Reporter: In Europe and the United States, "The House of the Unma" is seen as a commentary on the phenomenon of pop idols. Is commenting or criticizing one of your main intentions?
TOSHI: No, the film is not based on any criticism. If the audience gets the impression from the movie that the Japanese idol system is like this, then I feel a little embarrassed. Of course, I did some research before making the film, and I was involved in some idol activities, but I didn't see the kind of examples presented in the film. Moreover, it was not my intention to expose the secrets behind the entertainment industry. I just want to show the growth process of a young girl who is confused by the broken old values but is reborn as a mature person. That's what I want to talk about. But because I had to borrow the concept of idols, the film entered that special world.
Reporter: There is a four-year gap between your new film "Millennium Actress" and "The House of the Unma". Is this just because it takes a long time to make an animated feature film, or is there some other reason?
Toshi Ima: I didn't realize that these two films were separated for such a long time. After finishing "The House of the Unhemped", I did several projects for other directors. In 1998, I began to prepare for "Millennium Actress", and the actual production began the following year.
Reporter: You worked with screenwriter Sadayuki Murai on both of these films. Can you talk about your working relationship?
Imatoshi: I was originally looking for someone who could write the script for "The House of the Unma." But I didn't know any writers, so I asked the producers to find someone who could turn my ideas into the basis of the story. Later, the producer introduced me to Mr. Murai. In fact, before becoming a screenwriter, he worked for a prying company that hosted a lot of idol events and he knew some idols. So he is indeed the right person for this position. He came up with a lot of interesting, unconventional ideas for the story, and we got along very well from the start.
Reporter: Are you willing to continue to cooperate with him in future projects?
Toshi Ima: Actually, my next film has already started, but it's another screenwriter. Of course, this does not mean that my relationship with Mr. Murai has changed.
Reporter: Do you have a little bit of information about the next new film?
Toshi Imamoto: The title of the film is "The Godfather of Tokyo". As an animation, it's very special because the protagonists are three homeless people: a middle-aged man, a young girl who runs away from home, and a middle-aged gay man. They renounced their relationship with their true families and established an alternative family with each other. Because of one thing, they have to face again the reality of their real family and the reality of their escape.
The script is complete and the storyboard is halfway through. The animation has also begun to be produced and should be completed in about a year.
The Godfather of Tokyo
Reporter: Millennium Actress is very focused on visual storytelling techniques, like a movie within a movie. In fact, it is very similar to "The House of unma" it. Are you consciously perfecting or developing these skills?
Toshi Ima: Before "The House of the Unma", I had already written a screenplay for another director (Katsuyo Otomo), "Her Memories" from the collection of films "Memories Trilogy". It's also a story about the confusion between memory and the real world. Since I didn't direct it myself, I was a little worried about what the final result would be.
A lot of times, I think I'll handle it in a different way. Eventually I had the opportunity to realize these ideas in The House of Unhemp. So I was interested in this kind of plot very early on and consciously conceived the story in this way.
Her Memories
Honestly, I don't really care much about the concept of a stalker in Unhemped House. The storytelling part appealed to me even more. Looking at things objectively or subjectively gives two very different impressions. For an outsider, dreams and play-within-a-play are easily distinguished from the real world. But for those who are going through this, everything is real.
I wanted to describe this situation, so I put it in "The Unhemped House". The producer was intrigued by the concept, and he proposed another film to emphasize it. He said he wanted to make a movie like trompe l'oeil, so we started making Millennium Actress.
So, for "The House of unhemp", there was a story at the beginning, and in order to tell this story, we used this method. In Millennium Actress, this method itself is the purpose of the film. But it's a coincidence that both films use this approach. I also want to try other narrative styles.
Reporter: What role does Imai play in this fragmented narrative? How much content exists in the script?
Imatoshi: Actually, it's hard to say. We co-wrote Millennium Actress; I wrote the third draft of the script. In "The House of the Unma", I did not sign the screenplay, but in the process of writing the script, I came up with many ideas. There is not much difference between the story and the script. However, even if you've completed the details of the script, in the process of drawing the storyboard—when the character's face is drawn, the scene begins to take shape, and the various components are identified—the storyboard will always change, even if the scene and plot haven't changed. For example, the dialogue may change a little. So the final film made a lot of small changes to the script. But the whole process is very smooth, it will not be a problem just solved, and then start the next big change.
Reporter: The protagonists of "Millennium Actress" and "The House of the Unma" are women. Why are you so interested in female characters?
Toshi Ima: Because I like women (laughs). Of course, it is necessary to choose a female character in "The Unma Of The House" because it is about idols. Between this film and Millennium Actress, I had several plans to shoot a movie, but unfortunately none of them succeeded. One of the plans is a story about male protagonists. I ended up making two films about similar characters. This may seem meaningless, but it actually makes sense. This is because female characters are easier to write.
For male characters, I can only see the bad side. Because I'm a man, I know very well what male characters are thinking. Even though he was supposed to be cool, I could see the bad side of him. This makes it very difficult to create a male character. On the other hand, if I write about female protagonists because they are of the opposite sex, and I don't know them as well as I know men, I can project my obsession onto the characters and expand the aspects of the narrative I want to narrate. However, my next film didn't have a single female lead, and I didn't deal much with female characters before Unma's House, especially in the manga. Once I started doing this, I found them easy to write.
Reporter: Another similarity between the two films is the portrayal of the relationship between worshippers and idols. What attracts you most about this relationship?
Imatoshi: In that sense, I think "The House of the Unma" and "Millennium Actress" are two sides of the same coin. When I was working on "The House of the Unhemp", I thought it was a positive film, but gradually it became a negative film, and it became darker. It's exhausting in a way. When I started working with the producers of Millennium Actress, based on the premise I mentioned earlier, I had the intention of making the two films a sister story by portraying the relationship between worshippers and idols.
So in dealing with this relationship, I wanted Millennia To appear in a completely opposite, more positive image. So these two films are very important to me because they show the chiaroscuro side of the same relationship.