Daishi Matsunaga HEKISHU
INTRODUCTION
This short film is helmed by Daishi Matsunaga, whose latest feature release is based on Haruki Murakami’s “Hanalei Bay.” The film is set in Yangon, Myanmar, a city that is experiencing rapid democratization and economic development, even as lingering patches of the old cityscape remain. A Japanese businessman (Hiroki Hasegawa) is sent to Yangon to lead a railroad development project, and meets a Burmese woman named Su Su. The film captures the cars and stations of the circular railway that loops through the city and the bustling markets where the locals shop and do their business. Playing the delicate heroine Su Su is Nandar Myat Aung, who presently studies film and drama at a university in Yangon. The director of photography is up-and-coming cinematographer Shiyi Gao, who studied at the Japan Institute of the Moving Image.
STORY
Japanese businessman Suzuki watches the cityscape passing by as he rides the circular railway that runs languidly through the city of Yangon. With a friendly passenger in the same carriage, he talks about his job, which involves upgrading the railway system to increase speed. When the man asks him why speeding up is necessary, Suzuki answers quite self-assuredly that it will ease people’s everyday lives. After this chance meeting, however, he starts questioning his purpose in coming to Yangon. He buys traditional longyi as a souvenir from a seamstress named Su Su in the local market. Later, he runs into Su Su again, and meets her family. Learning about life in Yangon through his interactions with them, he again questions his job.
CAST
Suzuki: Hiroki Hasegawa (Japan | actor)
Hiroki Hasegawa joined the Bungakuza, one of the most prestigious theater companies in Japan, in 2001 and trained as a stage actor. He appeared in such stage productions as “Henry VI” (2010) and “Kafka on the Shore” (2012), both directed by Yukio Ninagawa. Hasegawa gained mainstream attention and received the 35th Japan Academy Prize Newcomer of the Year with his feature film debut. He went on to appear in numerous films, including Sion Sono’s Why Don’t You Play in Hell? (2013), Hideaki Anno’s Shin Godzilla (2016), which earned him the 40th Japan Academy Prize Actor of the Year, and Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Before We Vanish (2017). Hasegawa stars in TV drama “Manpuku” from October 2018, and in NHK’s historical drama series “Kirin ga Kuru”, which starts airing in 2020.
Su Su: Nandar Myat Aung (Myanmar | actress)
Nandar Myat Aung was born in Rakhine State, Myanmar, on the border with Bangladesh, and went to the National University of Arts and Culture in Yangon to study acting. She switched to directing in her second year. She has acted in school projects and directed short student films. Asian Three-Fold Mirror marks her theatrical debut.
COMMENT
Participating in the Asian Three-Fold Mirror project was my first experience working in a foreign production and I learnt a lot in terms of production. I am very impressed with the punctuality of the crew and their thorough pre-production.
COMMENT
It was a multilingual set, but for some reason, I felt no language barrier. Strangely, I could readily understand what my Myanmar cast mates were conveying. The locations offered landscapes that were so full of life and energy. I felt the yearning to preserve what was there, but at the same time anticipation for the changes to come, and I feel that I was able to infuse my character with all of these wavering sentiments. It was an exhilarating shoot offering new discoveries.