Competition “Au revoir l’été” Press Conference
 
Koji Fukada (Director/Screenplay/Editor/Co-producer)
Fumi Nikaido (Actress)
Kiki Sugino (Producer/Actress)
 
In 2010, Koji Fukada’s “hospitalité” won the Japanese Eye award at TIFF. His current feature shows a filmmaker who’s grown tremendously over the intervening years. “Au revoir l’été” can be at times incisive or tender, but always honest and loving in its portrayal of a group of characters, younger and older, and how they relate. Part coming-of-age-story, part social dramedy, the influence of Eric Rohmer colors every frame.
 
Fukada said, “It would be a lie to say that this has nothing to do with Eric Rohmer. I was definitely conscious of that. But as it was with “hospitalité” and as was with “Human Comedy in Tokyo”, my previous films, it’s not necessarily a direct homage to Eric Rohmer.”

 
But there’s a sort of lightness and sure characterizations reminiscent of Rohmer’s films in “Au revoir l’été”. The main star, Fumi Nikaido remarked about how she felt under the sure direction of Fukada. “You can probably see from the film that I was able to participate in a relaxed sort of way. I think that sort of shows through in my part.”
Producer and actress Kiki Sugino added her own 2 bits, saying, “He really let us go about our characters freely. He wants the dialog to be very light and something you can just say off the tip of your tongue when you’re thinking of something else. He wants it to be that natural.”

 
The film centers on Sakuko (Fumi Nikaido), a somewhat directionless 18 year-old, who spends the summer with her aunt, learning her own life lessons, while observing the gentle human comedy of the adults that cross her life. A duplicitous professor, a father who has made a huge compromise to manage a love hotel to support his daughter’s dreams, her naïve “boyfriend” – a refugee from Fukushima are among a group of fully believable individuals. Pitch perfect acting with a smart and literate script make for deep and subtle characterizations.

 
Fukada explained his ideas about writing. “When I script a film I’m very conscious about 3 points. Point number 1 is to have the dialogue naturally come about through the relationship between the characters and not to have it follow a certain contrived plot. Number 2 is to try not to put or squeeze in any catchy phrases or catchy lines. Number 3 is not to have the characters say what they really are thinking. Because that’s not how human beings are in real life. You don’t always say what you mean, or say aloud what you are thinking to your family or your friends. It’s usually something that seeps out in according to the situation or the relationships you’re in. “
 
The fact that his screenwriting is so literate prompted a question as to what this means for him in the light of the dumbing down of film audiences.
 
To which, Fukada retorted, “What I think is that it’s not that the quality of the audience is declining, it’s more that they’re not interested in film as much as before. And I think that it is in the end our responsibility. When I make a film, I set out to make a film that is appropriate and I set out to attract the audience to that – and I think that’s the way filmmakers should go about thinking.”
 
Throughout the background of the film, the legacy of 3.11 murmurs.
 
Fukada explained why. “I think that for me, as a director, if you’re going to use a camera, make a film in Japan, there is no way that you can ignore the Great Japan Earthquake or the nuclear issue that we’re facing right now. That would be unnatural and there is no way to make a film without doing that.”
 
Competition
“Au revoir l’été”