IR Interview: Koji Yakusho & Wim Wenders For “Perfect Days” [NEON] - Part I - video Dailymotion

The Inside Reel

Actor Koji Yakusho & Writer/Director Wim Wenders talk to The Inside Reel about process and approach in regards to their film: "Perfect Days" from NEON.

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC]

00:10 >> [FOREIGN]

00:24 [MUSIC]

00:30 >> Well, we've met many times.

00:32 I think remember Don't Come Knocking when we were at Sundance with Sarah Pauly and

00:37 Sam.

00:37 But like that film, this film is about existence and

00:42 what we believe about our existence.

00:45 And yet, and I'll go to Koji after I ask you about this,

00:49 the aspect of balancing the ideas of regret and joy with a bit of hope.

00:54 Because you see both elements of this man throughout, and yet you see

01:00 that it's yin and yang of the same exact thought process.

01:03 >> Yep, and even in the last scene of the film,

01:11 you don't quite know if he's laughing or if he's crying.

01:15 Because you have a feeling he sees his life in front of him, and

01:19 you have a feeling he's proud of the decision he's made.

01:22 Maybe he has also some regrets.

01:26 He's just seen his sister again after a long time.

01:31 So he's confronted with his past.

01:35 Even if we don't know much about his past, we are also confronted along with him.

01:39 And so we feel he's looking at his future.

01:44 Not that he's so much concerned about future.

01:47 He's a man who lives very much in the here and now.

01:50 But in that last scene, he leaves us just in the same limbo you just described of.

01:56 Happiness, of hope, contentness, maybe a little regret here or there.

02:02 And after all, he has made some choices in his life,

02:08 and we see him live this life of choice.

02:10 And we feel he's been probably more privileged before.

02:14 He's not born as a toilet cleaner.

02:16 But we see the choices he's made.

02:20 The choices are reduction and not use more than he needs.

02:25 And be content with what he has and look at each and

02:28 every person as if they were equal.

02:32 And he sees the homeless just as well as the banker who comes into his toilet.

02:36 So you see his choices and you see that he's content.

02:41 And that he's happy with his life.

02:44 And that is something we're all longing for.

02:48 And maybe after the pandemic even more than before, and

02:51 we don't quite know how to get there.

02:53 And he offers a few ideas.

02:56 [MUSIC]

03:06 [MUSIC]

03:16 >> Koji, could you talk about being in that moment?

03:29 Being so many things at once, a human being is so many things.

03:34 But to be inside this man who doesn't talk, who's very internal, and

03:38 yet shows so much love in many ways.

03:42 It must have been an interesting exercise as an actor to balance those things.

03:46 >> [FOREIGN]

03:56 >> [FOREIGN]

04:06 >> [FOREIGN]

04:16 >> [FOREIGN]

04:26 >> [FOREIGN]

04:36 >> [FOREIGN]

04:46 [MUSIC]

05:01 >> [FOREIGN]

05:11 >> There's also, and before I go back to Ben, Koji,

05:17 the aspect there's a sense of play in him.

05:20 He may not understand everybody's situation, but

05:24 he accepts them for who they are, even the ex-husband.

05:28 Or when you look at Kiko and the way she acts,

05:31 you interact with each character with the same kind of sort of empathy.

05:38 And sometimes empathy is a hard thing to put forth on screen.

05:42 Could you talk about finding sort of that rhythm, but also working with them,

05:46 who obviously knows so much about what he's doing.

05:50 And finding that balance in order to make the characterization organic.

05:55 >> [FOREIGN]

06:05 >> [FOREIGN]

06:15 >> [FOREIGN]

06:25 >> [FOREIGN]

06:50 >> We did end up shooting a lot without rehearsals,

06:53 because we just shot the rehearsal.

06:56 I mean, I was so happy with some of the things he offered me when we rehearsed and

07:01 then shot that finally after a few days I said, why don't we shoot the rehearsal?

07:07 Because this is almost always the most beautiful shot I could imagine,

07:12 so let's just do it.

07:14 And luckily, he allowed me to proceed like this.

07:18 And the film therefore got a different tone.

07:22 It is almost as if we are making a documentary on a totally fictional character.

07:28 And that is something I've never done before, and

07:31 I'm not quite sure if there's any example of a movie like this.

07:35 [MUSIC]

07:46 [LAUGH]

07:48 [MUSIC]

07:58 [MUSIC]

08:09 [MUSIC]

08:14 [BLANK_AUDIO]

IR Interview: Koji Yakusho & Wim Wenders For “Perfect Days” [NEON] - Part I

Category

Transcript

Recommended