In an oft-quoted line from As You Like It, Shakespeare wrote “All the world's a stage, / And all the men and
women merely players: / They have their exits and their entrances; / And one man in his time plays many parts, / His acts being seven ages. . .” (II.vii).
This summarizes the conceit behind Mikihiro Endo’s debut feature film Friendship
(友達/Tomodachi,
2013), which was runner up for the Nippon Visions Jury Award at Nippon Connection.
The central character, Shimada (Takeshi Yamamoto), is a
second-rate actor struggling to make it in a competitive film and TV industry. Despite throwing himself whole-heartedly into
countless auditions, Shimada is barely eking out a living on bit parts. So when fellow actor Fukuchi (Yusuke Oba) recommends that
Shimada try out for a role with a company called Friendship, he jumps at the
chance.
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| Fukada and Shimada in earnest discussion - Endo waits before showing us Shimada's face |
It is only after he gets hired that
Shimada discovers that this is no ordinary acting job. Friendship hires actors to create real life situations as requested by their clients. The company
meticulously creates a space according to the client’s wishes and the actor
interacts with the client in that space while the company monitors the room for
the actor’s safety. On the CCTV cameras,
Shimada watches as Fukuda sits at a bar drinking with an elderly man,
pretending to be the man’s absent son.
Shimada is initially reluctant to
take on the job himself, but Fukuda challenges him, asking “Does your acting
benefit anyone?” and suggests that “actors are worthless off stage.” Shimada’s first role requires him to play a
demanding boss, so that the client can muster the courage to confront his boss
and speak his mind for once.
Long-simmering frustrations boil to the surface and the client explodes
into near violence – terrifying for Shimada but therapeutic for the client who
immediately books another session.
The main rule at Friendship is that
the actor should keep things professional and not “get involved” with his
clients. Shimada finds this difficult
with a beautiful high school student, Mio, who uses her sessions to indulge in
her fantasy of planning a terrorist attack against girls she holds a grudge
against at school. The fact that someone
so young and attractive could be dissatisfied with her life, intrigues Shimada
and he finds himself clouding the lines between fiction and non-fiction by
seeking contact with Mio outside of work.
Parallel story lines involving Shimada lying to his mother about landing
a good role in a movie and Fukada lying about having a wife and kids further
blur the distinctions between acting and “reality”.
Endo skilfully draws us into the
personal lives of the central characters of Friendship
with his cinematography. Key scenes of
dialogue or interaction between characters begin with a typical long shot
establishing the location, but Endo holds off a moment or two longer than usual
before moving into a shot reverse shot, increasing our curiosity to see the
expressions on the character’s faces.
Instead of the typical medium shot of a shot reverse shot, Endo also
prefers intimate close-ups on faces that force us to contemplate the
characters’ innermost thoughts.
Cinematographer Erika Shimizu also imbues these scenes with warm colours
that increase the feeling of intimacy.
The stillness of the contemplative scenes is contrasted by the handheld
camera when Shimada is following Mio.
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| subtle comedy: Shimada in the role of Ortega the terrorist for hire |
Although the subject matter is quite
earnest, Endo and his co-writer Hiroshi Okada, have injected some subtle humour
into the script to keep it from getting too heavy. For example, one of the auditions that Shimada
and Fukada go out for is for a Sci-Fi movie called Jurassic Love. Later, in the
Mio scenes, Shimada seems blithely ignorant of the fact that his costume is a
stereotypical Hollywood “terrorist” look complete with a checkered neckerchief
and a Latin American name (Ortega). Needless
to say, his ignorance ends up coming back to haunt him when he takes the scenario
too far.
Under the guidance of his Tokyo
University of the Arts mentor Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Charisma, Pulse, Tokyo Sonata), Endo has managed to avoid the
common mistakes of many first-time filmmakers. Friendship
neither indulges itself with length – running at a comfortable, well-edited 75
minutes – nor with showy cinematography.
Doubtless influenced by his experience with the Marebito Theatre
Company, Endo’s film shines with its emphasis on excellent acting and a cleverly
written script.
Mikihiro Endo
(遠藤幹大, b. 1985) is from Mie Prefecture. Upon graduation from Kyoto University of Art
and Design he joined the Marebito Theatre Company. After making a number of short films, he
entered the Graduate Programme of Film and New Media at Tokyo University of the
Arts, where he studied under Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
Friendship is his graduate
work from this programme. Check out his official website or follow him on twitter.
CAST
Takeshi YAMAMOTO
Hana MATSUMOTO
Yusuke OBA
Yoshiyuki KUBOTA
Tomomi MIYASHITA
Mutsuo YOSHIOKA
Yozaburo ITO
CREW
Director/Writer: Mikihiro ENDO
Producer: Ryuichi OGATA
Writer: Hiroshi OKADA
Cinematographer: Erika SHIMIZU
Sound Designer: Taro NISHIGAKI
Production Designer: Hinako KASUGA
Editor: Yoko IZUMI
2014 Catherine Munroe Hotes
