Howling (review) is a blackly-comic neo-noir from Sheikh M Haris who subverts the genre by creating a collection of characters defined by desperation, cowardice, and disappointment rather than the expected avarice and lust.
We follow a motley bunch of no-hopers living lives based on lies they tell others to cover their miserable situations. They are led by a very flawed 40-year-old unemployed guy named Ryuji Tanoue (Ichiro Hashimoto) who is in desperate straits and equally desperate to be a hero which leads to him being a bit of a fantasist. Their number includes a housewife named Chisato (Sanae Kotani) and a 20-year-old student named Akane (Yukino Takahashi), two women who fulfil the role of femme fatales who manipulate a woefully underprepared and cowardly main protagonist into a situation requiring him to kill people. Alas, what Ryuji thinks will be easy become increasingly dangerous and blackly comic due to a serious case of sophistry blinds that him to his personal failings. For all of their flaws, the characters never lose our interest or investment in their quest to escape their situations as they are multifaceted and capable of change, but will change come in time for everyone? Viewers will find themselves gripped by the twists and turns until the film reaches its jaw-dropper of a finale which will leave viewers shocked and laughing.
Thanks to the help of festival staff, members of Sheikh M Haris’s team and the translation services of Takako Pocklington, I was able to interview the director on his singular vision.
The Japanese transcript is first and it is followed by English. Click on a link below to be taken to one or the other.
Japanese
この映画のアイデアはどこから生まれたのですか、またこの映画を製作しようと思ったきっかけは何ですか？
元々、この作品に「信者」の役として出演している土屋士さんから、「自分を含めた役者5人（土屋 士、小野 孝弘、池上 リョヲマ、小飯塚 貴世江、小谷 沙奈恵）に当て書きして映画を作りたい」と言われたのがこの企画の始まりでした。
自分にとって30〜40代の人をメインの登場人物に据えて作品を作るというのは初めての経験で、しかもこれが初の長編だったので、当初はアイディアも全く思いつかず非常に悩んでいました。
ある日、新宿の喫茶店で「どうしようか」と悩んでいたところ、向かいの席で40歳ぐらいの身なりの汚い男がスマホをいじっているのが見えました。「誰かとの待ち合わせだろうか。誰を待っているんだろう」とふと考え始め、「例えば20歳ぐらいの女子大生が来たらどんな理由で会ってどんな話をするんだろう」と段々妄想が膨らんで、そのまま喫茶店で隆二とアカネが初めて会うシーンが最初に一気に書き上がりました。
そこを起点に「田之上隆二」というキャラクターを掘り下げていき、さらに僕自身の、ウーバーイーツで色んなタワマンに出入りした体験や未だに忘れられない中学の初恋の相手を入れ込んだりしながら、その後は割と一気に脚本を書き上げていきました。
この主人公は、ひたすらみっともなくて、おまけに思い込みが激しい奴。この主人公の人物像や彼を取り巻く世界は、執筆過程でどのように湧きあがってきたのですか？
キャラクター像を問われたとき、僕は必ず「自分の一部分を拡大顕微鏡で覗き、それを見える形で具現化した人物」と答えています。今までは自分の年齢に近い人物を主人公に据えることが多かったのでそれが容易にできていたのですが、今回は40歳ということで、それができるのかちょっと心配だったんですけど、全く問題なかったですね(笑)。「自分は40歳になった時にこんな男になっているかもしれない」という恐怖を持ちながら「隆二」というキャラクターを作っていきました。こうならないように頑張ります(笑)。
同情したくなるようなそんなキャラクターを、橋本一郎さんは見事に体現されていました。なぜ、橋本さんをキャスティングされたのか、また、監督と橋本さんはどのように役作りされたのか聞かせて頂けますか？
土屋さんやベテランの役者さんたちからのご紹介や推薦で、何人かの俳優さんとお会いしながら「田之上隆二」にピッタリな人を探していきました。橋本さんとは映画に対する感性が合うところが多く、また初めてお会いした時点で僕の考える「隆二」のキャラクターを完全に掴んでくださっていたので、その場で即決しました。
なので、実は役作りの部分で橋本さんに言うことはほとんどなく、現場でも基本的に橋本さんにお任せしていました。
ちなみに橋本さんはガンマニアで銃に詳しく、劇中に出てくる拳銃は橋本さんのものを使用しています(笑)。
高橋ユキノさんと古谷沙奈恵さんのお二人とも際立った演技をされていました。監督は、お二人とあの役柄をどういうふうに作り込んでいかれたのでしょうか？
この作品に出てくる男たちはとにかくいい加減です。いい加減な生き方、いい加減な信念、いい加減な宗教……。現実を見ずに自分の好き勝手に物事を解釈して生きる半端な奴らです。「アカネ」と「千聖」はそんな男たちに翻弄されながらも、自分の人生を生きるチャンスを見逃すまいと好機を狙う強い人物として創造しました。
最近、ある映画監督が自分の作品に出演した女性たちに性暴力を働いていたことが明るみになり大変な騒ぎになっていますが、残念ながら日本にはそういう権力や力を笠に着るような卑劣な男たちがまだまだ残っています。
不器用で抗えない日々を過ごしていても、実は腹の底で、そういった奴らに媚びない、「逆に利用してやる」ぐらいの強い気持ちを持った人物として作り上げたいと思っていました。
今回は舞台出身の役者さんが多いことから、撮影よりも前に稽古場を使って、立ち稽古をするという新しい試みを行いました。その時に彼女たちが実際に動いてみて腑に落ちない部分は会話をし、本番までにまた作り上げてもらうというプロセスを踏みました。
結果、本番では高橋さんと小谷さんは本当に見事に演じ切ってくれたと思っています。
ホームレスのキャラクターの挿入は、階級間の抗争を提起しているようでした。あのホームレス二人の登場にはどんな思惑があったのですか？
イメージは『リア王』に出てくる「リア王」と「道化師」です。教主は「リア王」で、信者は「道化師」。教主にとっての自分の城がタワマン笑。二人を中心にタワマンに乗り込んで行くという展開は、僕が2年前の緊急事態宣言の時にウーバーイーツをしていた時の経験が基になっています。汚い身なりをしている僕ら配達員が場違いな高層タワマンに出入りする。「この中の一人ぐらい『タワマンを爆破したい』と思っていたとしても不思議じゃないな」とふと思いました。そのうち出てくると思うんですよね、そういう人が。
ジェレミー・ソルニエ監督のブルー・リベンジという映画をふと思い出しました。いかに普通の男が、異常な状況に陥っていくかという。この映画の構想に、映画や他の媒体からヒントを得たということはありますか？
『ブルー・リベンジ』は未見ですが、その話を聞いて観たくなりました。
『遠吠え』のコンセプトは「おっさん版『アンダー・ザ・シルバーレイク』」です。『アンダー・ザ・シルバーレイク』はロサンゼルスに住む怠惰なオタク青年が出鱈目な陰謀論を信じて謎を解くべく猪突猛進するといった内容ですが、アレのおっさん版です笑。ちなみに劇中出てくる教主のダンボールハウスは『アンダー・ザ・シルバーレイク』に出てくるカルト教団のテントをイメージして作ってもらっています。
他だと、皆さんイメージするところだと思いますが『タクシードライバー』。ただし隆二はトラヴィスのような英雄になることはありません。『タクシードライバー』は大好きな映画ですが、それに対するアンチテーゼのつもりでこの映画を作っています。
他にもデヴィッド・リンチ、ディアオ・イーナンが作るようなネオノワール作品にはかなり影響を受けています。
映画以外でいうと村上春樹作品、特に『羊をめぐる冒険』『ねじまき鳥クロニクル』にも大きく影響を受けています。『羊をめぐる冒険』を映画化するのが僕の夢のひとつです。
もし誰かに一千万円と拳銃を手渡されたら、殺人を快く引き受けますか？（笑）
死刑レベルの極悪人であれば(笑)。でも引き受けたところで隆二と同じくヒヨって引き金を引けずに終わるんでしょうね。
English
Where did the idea come from and what was your intention with making the film?
This project started when Tsukasa Tsuchiya, who plays the “Believer” in the film, made proposed that I write the screenplay for five actors including himself (Tsukasa Tsuchiya, Takahiro Ono, Ryoma Ikegami, Kiyoe Koiiduka, Sanae Kotani) and make a film.
It was my first experience writing a story with main characters who are in their 30s and 40s. and it was also my first ever feature film, so I struggled to come up with ideas at the beginning.
One day, I was pondering a plot for this film in a café in Shinjuku.
A scruffy man in his 40s was on the opposite side fiddling with his mobile phone. I became curious about him and wondered, “Maybe he will have a rendezvous with someone. If so, who is he waiting for?”. My imagination started to run, like – “For instance, if a twenty-something university girl came to meet him, what sort of conversation would they have?”. Then I managed to dash off the scene of Ryuji meeting Akane for the first time.
Starting from the scene, I dug deep into the character of Ryuji Tanoue. I also inserted my experience entering Tawaman¹ (high-rise condominiums) while working at Uber Eats or an unforgettable memory with my high-school sweetheart. I finished writing up the script relatively smoothly after that.
The main character is a thoroughly disreputable and delusional fellow. Can you talk about how your writing process for coming up with him and the world he exists in?
Whenever I am asked about the main character in my writings, I always answer like this: “I look at part of myself (mind) through a microscope and make it tangible. The tangible form becomes the character”. I had managed to create characters like this before because the main characters in my previous works were around my age. However, I was a bit worried if I could invent one for this story in this way as the character was aged 40, but there was no problem (haha). I created the main character Ryuji with the fear, “I might become a guy like him when I turn 40”. I will try hard not to become like him (haha).
Ichiro Hashimoto manages to do an impressive job at making his character sympathetic. Why did you cast him and how did the two of you shape the acting?
I met several actors who were either introduced or recommended by Tsuchiya and other highly experienced actors as I searched for someone who matched the image of Ryuji Tanoue. I found that I share sensibilities on films with Hashimoto and he perfectly captured my idea of who Ryuji is at our first meeting, I instantly decided to cast him.
Therefore there was hardly anything to tell Hashimoto about shaping the role, so I left it all to him.
By the way, he is a gun geek and is familiar with guns, so the one used in the film was his own(haha).
Yukino Takahashi and Sanae Kotani both give distinctive performances. How did you work with them to shape their roles?
The men in the film are all untrustworthy/unreliable. They are untrustworthy in their lives and with their faith and their religion.
They are all irresponsible people who avoid confronting reality and interpret things to suit themselves. I created the characters Akane and Chisato as strong women who are toyed with by these men but are determined to seize any chance to live their lives the way they want.
Recently it was revealed that a certain director had been sexually assaulting actresses in his films. Unfortunately, there are still many nasty men like him in Japan. Men who abuse their authority and power.
I wanted to create those female characters as figures with strong wills, people who do not flatter these men and, instead, work with a strong feeling of “using these men against each other”.
Since many of the actors in Howling come from a stage background, I tried something new and we walked through everything in a rehearsal studio before filming. I watched them act and discussed scenes with them when I felt something was not quite right, then gradually shaped the characters for the shoot. They were brilliant when it came time to shoot.
The inclusion of the homeless characters seemed to open up the subject of class warfare. What was your intention with them?
I got inspiration from “King Lear” with “King Lear” and “the Fool”. The Master is King Lear and the Believer is the fool. The castle for the Master is the Tawaman (haha). The episode where they storm the Tawaman was based on my experience when I worked for Uber Eats during the Covid 19 state of emergency two years ago. Filthy looking delivery men like us enter those luxurious condominiums and look out of place. One day, I suddenly thought, “I would not be surprised if one of us planned to blow up Tawaman”. I think that kind of person will emerge sometime.
I was reminded of the film Blue Ruin (2013) by Jeremy Saulnier in how a normal guy is thrown into an extraordinary situation. Did any films or other media serve as an inspiration for the story?
I haven’t watched Blue Ruin yet, but hearing about it makes me want to see its story.
The concept of Howling is an “old guy version” of Under the Silver Lake.
Under the Silver Lake is the story about a geeky young slacker who lives in Los Angeles who believes in a crazy conspiracy and rushes recklessly to solve the mystery. Howling is an old guy version of it (haha). For your information, the Master’s cardboard house was designed in the image of the cult tent in Under the Silver Lake.
You might already have noticed, but I also got some inspiration from Taxi Driver. Ryuji would never be a hero like Travis though. Taxi Driver is one of my favourite films. Despite that, I made this film as an antithesis of it.
I am deeply influenced by some neo-noir films, such as the ones David Lynch or Diao Yinan tend to make.
Apart from films, I am hugely influenced by Haruki Murakami’s works, especially Wild Sheep Chase and The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. One of my dreams is to make Wild Sheep Chase into a film.
If someone handed you 10 million yen and a gun, would be willing to kill? 
Yes, if the target is a death penalty level villain, haha. But I would probably chicken out and not be able to pull the trigger like Ryuji.
Howling was shown at the Osaka Asian Film Festival on March 13 and 17.
1 Tawaman- Tower Mansion High-rise apartment/condominiums