Suton is the directorial debut of Rikako Watanabe. Armed with acting experience on stage and screen – you can see her in Graffiti Graffiti! (2020) and Saga Saga (2023) – and production-side experience an assistant producer on the Elaiza Ikeda film Town Without Sea (2020), she brings a melancholy and tranquil moviegoing experience that follows Sae (Chie Sakamoto), a young woman living in Tokyo who, in the aftermath of Covid lockdowns, is at a crossroads in life after a foiled acting career, spoiled relationships, and the realisation that her parents in Osaka are getting on in years. As she takes stock of things, the people around her offer some guidance.
Rikako Watanabe’s use of simplicity in narrative is one of the film’s strengths as short sequences focus down the details and leave actress Chie Sakamoto to weave together an emotionally resonant performance.
The film plays as part of the Short Film Program C section of the 19th Osaka Asian Film Festival, which is how this interview came about. In it, she reveals the origins of the project, creating the film’s story structure, judging the lengths of scenes, and how she works with actors, particularly Chie Sakamoto.
This is a strong debut film. I found the narrative quite affecting and gracefully done. I felt that it has an atmosphere similar to stasis due to the summer atmosphere and Sae’s journey in life resonated quite well and felt authentic because the writing does a good job at distilling her problems down to their purest form and Chie Sakamoto gives a moving performance without being showy. This helped highlight the moments of kindness she experiences and her journey.
Where did the impetus to make this film come from?
Thank you very much for your kind comments. I am very happy to hear your praise for the lead actress, Chie Sakamoto. This is my first film as a director and I usually work as an actor, but I have been involved in film production outside of acting, including once as an assistant producer of a film. Perhaps because of these experiences, I had a desire in my heart to make a film myself by the time I turned 30, but the biggest trigger was that my father actually became ill, as depicted in the film. I had always wanted to make a film, but I was not confident that I could create a story on my own, but my father’s illness gave me the impulse to start writing.
The narrative is defined by brevity and some non-linear storytelling. That gives the film grace and delicacy. Everything felt perfectly paced and placed. How did you approach the structure of the story at the writing phase and how much did you change once shooting?
In terms of the structure of the story, we followed the script almost exactly. However, the reminiscence scene describing Sae’s past, I didn’t plan to make each cut as long as it was in the script, but instead thought of it as a flashback. The script just says, “The two reading a script for a stage play”, “Sae is told that they are parting ways” or something like that. I didn’t write any dialogue, but only scenes. I asked the actors to perform an etude on set, and they were wonderful. So while shooting, I decided to show the recollection part of the scene, not just for a moment, but for the whole scene. That was the only part I changed. As for how I structured the script when I wrote it, I apologize for being so abstract, but it was my own rhythm and intuition.
With the careful positioning of everything we do see on screen, was there anything you wanted to keep in the film but decided to cut?
There was nothing in particular. If I had to pick one scene, it would be the one where Sae and her ex-lover are talking about their breakup. That was a rather long cut. I was going to use it in its entirety because the performance was so good, but when I thought about the overall composition and the core of the film from a broader perspective, I realized that I should reduce the size of the scene, so I cut it out. The tension in the scene was reflected in the cut, and it was really wonderful to see it as a stand-alone cut.
Chie Sakamoto gives a strong central performance that holds the film together. How did you first come into contact with her? What made her the right choice for the part and how did you work with her to get the performance?
I met Chie Sakamoto about 6 years ago at an acting school. From that time on, I was attracted to the quality of Chie’s acting. Chie says the lines of any role as her own voice. I thought she was able to do the most important thing unconsciously, which was to live the role, not to pretend to be the role. When I was writing the script, I wrote the main character with Chie’s role in mind. So I thought that as long as Chie lived Sae’s life, there was nothing to say, so I don’t remember any special direction on the set.
I felt that the film communicated its themes and Sae’s emotional journey very well and could have ended in that final shot of her parent’s house. It was beautifully poetic. The final monologue felt a bit bleak and left a lot of room for uncertainty. Why did you choose to end it in that method?
There was a time when I was thinking of bringing the scene at the parents’ house to the last scene, but as I was revising the manuscript, I settled on this flow. Sae doesn’t have a scene where she specifically says what she is thinking until the last scene. The fact that Sae is sort of mysterious makes the audience curious. The main reason is that I wanted to drag that out to the end.
How do you imagine Sae’s story continuing?
The story after this for Sae I think is that she will return home and live by her parents’ side. That may be for a temporary period of time, but I think she will listen to the feelings she has now and make a choice. But I don’t mind if the viewer imagines something completely different. I wanted to tell you that it doesn’t matter what life you choose.
I believe that you have acting experience on stage as well as on screen. How do your experiences affect your approach to direction and how would you like to develop as a filmmaker?
I took on the challenge of directing while remembering the scenes in which I had felt comfortable as an actor in the past. For example, I never give instructions on how to say the lines. Sometimes there are people who give direction by showing a sample of how they want the actors to say the lines, but I don’t like that very much. I wrote the script with all the performers in mind, so as long as each actor understood the role in his or her own way, I didn’t care how they said it or how they moved. Also, since all of the actors were originally fellow actors, I knew their personalities, so I changed the way I directed each of them. I also made a conscious effort to have careful meetings before shooting. Anxiety before starting shooting is the most stressful thing, so I tried to relieve them of their anxiety about coming to the set, apart from their nervousness. As a filmmaker, well, I have not yet decided whether I will make another film, but I would like to. One of my driving forces is the desire to bring out the best in each actor. There are still attractive actors that I want everyone to know, and I would like to direct and film those people. Sometimes I wonder if I don’t have to aim to grow, but since I am going to do it, I will do the best I can, and that is all I can do.
Suton played at Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024 as part of the Short Films Program C on March 02. It will play again on March 07 at Nakanoshima Museum of Art Osaka at 10:30.
You can read an review of the film here.