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VENICE 2022 Competition

Kōji Fukada • Director of Love Life

“To me, a person is basically lonely, despite family or religion or any other community”

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- VENICE 2022: While dealing with the subject of loneliness, the Japanese writer-director inflicts cruelty on his characters, but also shows them some hope and love

Kōji Fukada • Director of Love Life
(© Kazuko Wakayama)

In Love Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kōji Fukada
film profile
]
, playing in competition at the 79th Venice International Film Festival, Japanese writer-director Kōji Fukada depicts a family tragedy with an ensuing process of grief that’s heartbreaking and harsh, but not without a possible ray of hope. As he tells us, the journey started with a song some 20 years ago – one that has never left the director.

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Cineuropa: Can you talk about the embryo of the film and the choice of title?
Kōji Fukada:
The title Love Life comes from a song by Japanese singer-songwriter Akiko Yano. I first heard this song when I was 20, and I’ve been listening to it ever since. Seven years ago, I started to write this film. In every movie I make, I try to express my feelings and beliefs on quite big subjects and emotions. In this one, love and loneliness are at the centre. To me, a person is basically lonely, despite family or religion or any other community. So why the title Love Life? Because I think that you can connect your loneliness with someone else’s and form a love-based relationship. I also chose it because I like the song so very much.

Can you remember which one of your characters first turned up when you created your story?
Taeka, the mother, was the first one, and then her son, Keita. Again, it goes back to the song; when I first heard the lyrics, I thought they were from a woman, addressing her lover. And that may be so, but gradually, I also read them as the words from a mother to a child. Very soon after that, Taeko and Keita turned up in my head.

You also include a deaf character in a very central role. What gave you this idea?
The idea came to me in 2018, at a special festival in Tokyo focusing on deafness and its expressions. I was invited into one of the workshops there, where I had many occasions to meet and interact with deaf people, and I soon started to ask myself: why haven’t I had a deaf person in a film yet? I became intrigued by the notion of sign language, which is entirely a language of its own, and furthermore, it’s really interesting to work with from a visual point of view. This led me to include it in the film. Through the people I met in this workshop, I also got in contact with Atom Sunada, who plays the deaf character, Park, the ex-husband of Taeko. He is also deaf in real life.

Apart from a song or a workshop, what inspires your storytelling? It’s often said that you’re a big admirer of Éric Rohmer.
Oh, if only I had more inspirations, things would be so much easier to write. But you’re absolutely right, Éric Rohmer is often with me, and I re-read his writings often in my working process.

You’re sometimes also mentioned as one of the modern keepers of the Yasujiro Ozu tradition. Love Life even opens with a shot of hanging laundry, very much in keeping with him and his movies.
Let’s say that he’s sometimes on my mind, yes. At the same time, he’s one of the true greats, while I am not. I will say that we both appreciate the family story, and we can both be quite cruel to our families. But we also give them a ray of hope at times.

What have your exchanges with Akiko Yano been like – if you’ve had any? Has she reacted to your choice of title and the inspiration provided by her song?
She said that when she releases a song, then it flies out of her hands. When she heard about my idea, she was very pleased. “Now it’s going on an entirely new journey!” she said. I have sent her the film, and I think she likes it.

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