Monday, July 10, 2017

Kick-off press conference of new movie "Yurigokoro"

The kick-off press conference of new movie "Yurigokoro" was held at Tokyo International Forum on 9 July which was attended by the director Kumazawa Naoto and cast members Yoshitaka Yuriko, Matsuyama Kenichi, Matsuzaka Toori, Satsukawa Aimi, Seino Nana and Kimura Tae. The filming for the current arc was finally completed one day earlier on 8 July while filming for the past arc was wrapped up in October last year. The movie will be shown in cinemas from 23 September.

The story describes how a family comes to find a diary belonging to someone they do not know from their dying father's study which describes how this person killed multiple people. However, they are unable to tell if this is a fictional story or a real account by the person in question and why this was written. Yoshitaka plays the heroine Misako described in the diary who is destined to kill people so as to be at peace with herself emotionally. However, when she comes to understand what true love is, she tries to fight against her fate and struggles with the resulting internal turmoil.

Matsuyama Kenichi plays the role of Yosuke living in the Showa era who has an unspeakable secret and emotional scar like Misako. When the two of them meet, they try to relieve their loneliness in each other's company. As for Matsuzaka Toori, he plays the role of Ryosuke in the current era who discovers the diary talking about Misako from his dying father's study room. Satsukawa Aimi plays Mitsuko who is a friend of Misako while the younger version of Misako is played by Kiyohara Kaya, As for Seino Nana, she plays Ryosuke's fiancee Chie who disappears suddenly without a word while Kimura Tae plays Chie's ex-colleague Hosoya, a mysterious woman who was asked to pass a message from Chie to Ryosuke.

Although it had been said that this is a story which cannot be made into a movie due to the difficulty of integrating the past and current arcs, Yoshitaka said that the film will be worth watching out for as the two stories intertwine and bring about unexpected sparks. Initially, there was a plan to film both arcs concurrently but due to the burden on the cast in terms of physical and mental strength, it was decided to film both arcs separately. Matsuzaka who appears in the current arc, revealed that there were times when they had to film through the night so they were glad to be able to finish the filming successfully at the end.

Matsuyama who appears in the past arc with Yoshitaka and Satsukawa, said that he liked the 90s feel of the story and was glad to be able to do something different and gain new experiences through the filming. Satsukawa also echoed his view that this is a charming movie although the theme might seem to be rather extreme.

As Yoshitaka had not met Matsuzaka, Seino and Kimura at all since the trio appear in the present arc, she admitted jokingly that she didn't have a sense of familiarity with them even if they were all standing on the same stage which made everyone laugh. She also expressed worry if the movie will be ready for the release in 2 months' time since wrapping was just finished yesterday but she had faith in the director and is eagerly waiting to see the final version.

On the other hand, Matsuyama revealed that he first met Yoshitaka more than 10 years ago and thought that she was a peculiar girl. Upon hearing this, Yoshitaka asked the media to write his comments of her in a positive light. Matsuyama then went on to praise her for her strong acting skills and that he was satisfied with being able to work more closely with her this time and thanked her for helping him to overcome the tough filming. In return, Yoshitaka said that she was happy to have Matsuyama's company during the filming breaks as she was alone most of the time and that she would like to work with him again and see more of his acting in future.

Sources: Sponichi / Yomiuri Hochi / Nikkansports / Oricon / Eiga.com

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