For Japanese director Isao Yukisada, making a big-budget film was almost impossible during the current slump of Japanese film industry. "My generation of the filmmakers tends to tell stories about our lives, to try to recapture a true feeling of love, or to express the loneliness of the young people in Tokyo. We don't do big films," Yukisada said yesterday at a press conference in Taipei.
Yukisada's Go, a "small film" about love and the self-identity of a Japanese youth, was the biggest winner at the 2002 Japanese Academy, garnering eight awards including best director, best actor, best supporting actress, best screenplay and best cinematography. This was the latest in a series of awards for the promising young director, whose debut film won the Fipresci Award at the Pusan International Film Festival in 2000.
Adapted from the award-winning novel of the same title by author Kazuki Kaneshiro, Go is a fast-paced love story about a Japanese of Korean origin facing discrimination and seeking self-identity, probably one of the few Japanese films dealing with the "Korean complex" of Japanese society.
"Before we made the film, we didn't think about the existence of such discrimination towards Koreans who grew up in Japan. But after reading the novel, everything became clear to me," Yukisada said. "I was vividly reminded of my childhood friend, a Korean-Japanese, whom we distanced ourselves from after finding out about his origins. He later died in an accident."
In Go, Sugihara is a troubled teenager who attends a school for Korean immigrants, a school that identifies with North Korea. His father was a professional boxer, so Sugihara is brought up with punches and fighting lessons. Wanting to see a wider world, Sugihara transfers to a Japanese high school but immediately faces discrimination, while back at the Korean school he's seen as a traitor. All this leads to a lot of fighting and Sugihara becomes the bad boy, until he meets with Sukari, a Japanese girl. But falling in love only brings new worries: should he tell her that he's Korean?
Director Yukisada expresses his talent in the exciting fighting sequences and in a scene where children play chicken with subway trains. Under his direction, actors Yusuke Kubozuka (Sugihara) and Kou Shibasaki (Sukari) turn in impressive performances. Both have now become idols in Japan.
"The violent scenes are true to the original novel. I just intensified the love story part," Yukisada said. "Go is also a film for me to see what Japan is all about. A great chance to know get to know more about ourselves," he said.
"Many young people in Japan lack a sense of self-consciousness. They feel things but they don't look into things. They just follow the others, unlike the protagonist in the film who is conscious of who he is. That's why he is different from the others," said Yukisada.
There will be a screening of Go at the Golden Horse festival at Lion's Cinema on Monday, Nov. 11, at 8:10pm. Tickets are available through ERA ticketing outlets.
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