Director Pierre Földes explains how he adapted six short stories by Murakami Haruki into an animated feature film.
A shaken Japan
Blind willows, sleeping womanscreening in Japanese cinemas from July 26, adapts six short stories by Murakami Haruki into a feature-length animated film. It won a special jury mention at the 2022 Annecy Festival and the Grand Prix at the Niigata International Animated Film Festival, and was also praised by Murakami himself.
The stories adapted into the film are as follows: “Toad Saves Tokyo”, “On His Twentieth Birthday”, “The Little Grebe”, “The Spring Bird and the Tuesday Women”, “A UFO Landed at Kushiro” and “Blind Willows, Sleeping Woman”.
The story takes place in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011.
The film is set in Tokyo just a few days after the earthquake of March 11, 2011. After worryingly following the information on the disaster zone in the northeast of the country, Kyôko disappears, leaving behind a letter. Upset by this event, her husband Komura is entrusted with a mysterious small box by a colleague and leaves for Hokkaido to deliver it to the latter’s sister. Around the same time, another of Komura’s colleagues, named Katagiri, meets a giant frog who asks him to help save Tokyo from an earthquake.
Komura’s wife, Kyôko, disappears one night after continuously following broadcasts about the earthquake.
Pierre Földes describes his passion for Murakami’s stories which he chose to put into images. “First of all, there is this unique and innovative style. I was attracted by this tension between the supernatural and the everyday. Murakami describes the movements of the depths of the human heart through ripples on the surface, offering a unique perspective. »
The director was particularly inspired by the richness of the characters.
“Toad, Komura and Katagiri are eccentric, funny and touching. And I love the unique atmosphere of these stories, where there is always a kind of humor and cynicism. I tried to recreate this atmosphere on screen. »
One night, when Katagiri returns home, he sees Toad waiting for him.
Murakami adapter
Földes has a form of intuitive creativity. He chose these six stories for the film because they were the ones that spoke to him the most. “There are dozens of ways to adapt a work, but I respect one basic rule: create something original. Rather than adapting the text itself, I was faithful to what I could read between its lines. I think it’s a more authentic approach. I wanted to discover the essence of what inspired Murakami. »
Komura takes his young cousin (who needs hearing treatment) on the bus he was taking to high school.
As an artist, musician and director, Földes says he always takes the same creative approach, relying on instinct rather than analysis.
“I believe that my instinct is much smarter than my reason. » He gives as an example the way he paints pictures. “When I am deeply inspired and have an idea, it is as if I take a bow and shoot an arrow in the direction of what attracts and interests me, then I alter and refine its trajectory thereafter, until I obtain what I desire. »
Kyôko was once the girlfriend of Komura’s friend.
Földes sees writing a screenplay like painting a picture. “You look at something, then you have an idea, and you start painting. Then you add new layers, destroying what you had seen before. For me, it’s a way of expressing a global vision. It’s both beautiful and ugly, so you keep adding layers of ugliness upon layers of beauty until you’re satisfied. Writing a screenplay is, in my opinion, the same thing: I took the world of Murakami Haruki’s stories as a starting point, adding all kinds of layers to express what I felt. I proceed by impulse, editing, and refinement: I like the idea of improving something. »
Komura can’t stop thinking about the words Kyôko left him: “Living with you is like living with a piece of air.”
To merge six short stories into one, Földes first followed the journeys of all the characters and produced five stories. He then reduced the dozen characters to just four, creating a scenario where their storylines intertwined. Dismantling and reconstructing the structure of the original fiction resulted in a seven-part film.
“The themes that run through all of these stories emerged gradually during the writing and editing. Towards the end of the script, I finally realized what kind of film we were going to make. »
In a flashback to her twentieth birthday, Kyôko delivers food to the owner of the Italian restaurant where she worked.
Distance yourself from disaster
In the process of combining these short works, Földes thought that the characters needed a common basis, which was embodied in the theme of the Great East Japan Earthquake, which caused the accident nuclear power plant at Fukushima.
For Murakami, earthquakes are a major theme. Two of the adapted stories (“Toad saves Tokyo” and “A UFO landed in Kushiro”) are taken from the collection Kami no kodomotachi wa mina odoru (translated into French by Corinne Atlan under the title “After the Earthquake”), written after the Kobe earthquake which occurred in January 1995. However, the film moves the plot to the aftermath of the March 11 disaster 2011.
Földes explains that watching images of the disaster zone gave Kyôko the opportunity to confront the feelings latent within her. “In 2011, hundreds of millions of people around the world watched videos of this earthquake and tsunami over and over again. I was among those who were shocked by these images. So it was natural for me to make it the disaster of this story. »
Komura travels to Kushiro, on the island of Hokkaido, to deliver a box to his colleague’s sister, with whom he shares a meal. He hears about a man whose wife disappeared after an encounter with a UFO.
If the 2011 earthquake is a backdrop, the film remains mainly focused on the personal stories of its characters. According to Földes, “they feel trauma from the earthquake, but they were not directly affected by it.” There is a clear distance between the story and the natural disaster.
“The characters are fundamentally trapped. For them, more than a random event, the earthquake is an opportunity to rethink who they are. Kyôko reconsiders her life as a couple, while Katagiri rediscovers his personal values through Toad, who is another part of himself. Komura brings out the emptiness within him into the world. »
This feeling of distance from the earthquake is also found in the original stories. At the time of the Kobe earthquake, Murakami was living in the United States, not Japan. As a non-Japanese, Földes’ perspective was able to overlap with that of the writer.
A woman Komura meets during his trip tells him a strange story.
A direct inspiration
Földes visited Japan to finalize the script. “I would go to different neighborhoods, trying to forget myself, and immerse myself deeply in each place.” He finally completed the scenario by eating a indoors in the Shinkansen.
Katagiri collapses to the ground in an alley in Kabukichô, as if he had been hit by a bullet.
The Japanese inspiration is evident in the visuals and sound. Földes expresses his love for Japanese art, using elements like that’s it (erotic prints) by the painter Hokusai. The Japanese language is also heard on television or in hospital announcements.
“At the start, I was a composer. So, to create an original soundtrack that matched the vision of the film, I wanted to play by mixing a lot of different sounds with language,” he says. “In addition to dialogues and voices, the film uses other noises typical of the Archipelago. In the visuals, I also mixed an imaginary Japan with the real country, taken from the photographs I took during my trip. »
When Komura receives a call from his mother while making pasta, he remembers that Watanabe the cat is missing.
A Japanese version of the film was made before its July release in cinemas nationwide. Supervised by Földes, this version directed by Fukada Kôji (known for films like The nursereleased in 2019), with famous actors, is not a simple dubbing but a re-creation, which the director defines as “a unique film, as I imagined it”.
“We first filmed the actors performing, then we used this footage as a basis for the animation. The dialogues were then in English. We then created a French version through dubbing, but the actors didn’t have experience, so we recorded them individually. On the other hand, in the Japanese version, almost all scenes were recorded with all participants, like real conversations. Having everyone in the studio, exchanging their thoughts and opinions, with Fukada’s directing techniques, was a truly wonderful experience. »
Komura meets a young girl and waits in her garden for the cat Watanabe to come by.
Reading these stories by Murakami, and then watching the film afterwards, can provide a valuable opportunity to observe the artistic process through which Földes interprets the stories and then reconstructs them by combining them.
Trailer
(All photos © 2022 Cinéma Defacto/Miyu Productions/Doghouse Films/9402-9238 Québec Inc. [Micro_scope, Productions l’unité centrale]/An Original Pictures/Studio Ma/Arte France Cinéma/Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma.)
Related News :