After a mysterious opening where a character disappears, Snowdrop becomes a fairly follow-the-line story of a woman named Naoko (Aki Nishihara) applying for welfare after ten years of caring for her dementia-stricken mother and her immobilised father. We see the strain at home that drove her to reach out for help and we see some of the minutiae of the process of the application, from the paperwork to interviews. We also see Naoko’s plight from the perspective of her diligent case worker named Munemura (Haruhi Ito). As Munemura works, she experiences her own moral crises over what she sees Naoko go through until the case is discharged.
The latest work from writer/director Kota Yoshida (Sexual Drive, Yuriko’s Aroma), it is a quiet and unassuming film all the way through to the closing credits. This tone is created by a carefully composed restraint in camerawork and editing that focusses viewer attention on Aki Nishihara who gives little away outside of small gestures that insinuate the profound emotions of despair that her character feels. When the drama crescendos and she verbalises her plight, it is devastating. I cried. The simple but effective end credits song and its lyrics that give her feelings a poetic voice make me tear up. Her performance is, for my money, one of the best of the festival and Yoshida’s choice to be laser-focussed on Naoko’s presence, thus drawing us into the acting and what it says about her world, is genius directing.
I can picture this being one of my top ten films of the year.
Snowdrop is receiving its World Premiere at Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024 in the Competition section and he kindly took the time to answer my questions about the writing of the story, the visual style he chose, and getting such exquisite acting from his cast.
This interview features Japanese and English text.
Warning – this interview contains major spoilers so I suggest you watch Snowdrop first before reading – bookmark it and come back later after watching it.
It looks great. I loved the visual restraint. That observational camera and the lived-in sets built the sense of realism and it made for a perfect stage for the cast. There were some great shots that pack visual metaphors/motifs for themes of abandonment as well as being poetically beautiful. Indeed, abandonment features heavily in the film via dialogue and just how the main character, Naoko is always left behind.
Aki Nishihara is just astonishing in this and Haruhi Ito is a good foil. My eyes were rooted to Nishihara as I tried to figure her character out. Seeing her try to maintain dignity in the face of anger/disappointment was really, really compelling and Nishihara’s performance brought such a weight of emotion that I was dragged along and empathising and my heart broke when she verbalised her character’s feelings in that monologue near the end. Also, that end song and the shot of the flower is just perfect!
What initially motivated you to make this film?
生活保護を申請しほぼ受理できるに関わらず心中を選んだ、という実際にあった事件を元にしました。自分もかつて生活保護を受給した経験があり、生活保護についてはとても興味を持っていました。この家族の矛盾をした選択に非常に興味を持ったためです。
It is based on a true incident in which a person applied for welfare and chose to commit suicide despite the possibility of receiving it. I had the experience of receiving welfare benefits in the past and so I was very interested in welfare benefits. I was very interested in this family’s contradictory choices.
Can you explain a little about the creation of the screenplay? What sort of research did you do for both the side of the welfare claimant and the welfare officer and why is the present-tense narrative of the film set in 2016?
2016年は実際に事件が起きた年となっています。脚本作業は実際の事件を入念に調べました。この物語はいわゆる不正受給といった生活保護制度の批判をしたいわけはなく、生活保護を通じて人間の尊厳を見つめる物語にしたかったので、生活保護の申請事務手続きなどの具体性が大切になると思い、生活保護申請手続きはかなりリサーチを重ねました。自分の経験上においても生活保護職員の方は非常に献身的に審査をしてくださったいました。生活保護職員はなんの落ち度もなく完璧な仕事をしたのにかかわらず一家は悲劇的な選択をした、ということを描こうと思いました。
The script was carefully researched based on actual events that occurred in 2016. I didn’t want to write this story to criticize the welfare system, such as the so-called unfair receipt of benefits, but rather to tell a story that looks at human dignity through welfare. I did a lot of research on the application process. In my experience, welfare staff were very dedicated to the screening process. I wanted to portray that the welfare worker did a perfect job without any fault, but the family made a tragic choice.
Snowdrop is defined by restraint. When a zoom or a push-in is used, when an actor gives even the subtlest of movement, this restraint amplified the effect of those techniques. Can you explain your approach to shooting a scene?
撮影で一番大事にしたことは、主人公の直子は感情を表に出さないが故に、無理に彼女の感情をを捉えないということです。彼女は自分が言いたいこと、例えば両親への本当の思いなどを表に出さないで生きてきました。その本音の部分は隠れているが故に、抑制した撮影方式で進めることでその本音の部分が引っ掛かりとして観客に届けたいと思っていました。彼女が本来思っているであろうことを父親は言葉にしないでも理解出来てしまう、という構図を狙っていました。
The most important thing during filming was that the main character, Naoko, doesn’t show her emotions, so I didn’t force myself to capture her emotions. She has lived her life without expressing what she wants to say, such as her true feelings towards her parents. Because her real feelings are hidden, I wanted to convey them to the audience by using a restrained filming method. I was aiming for a composition in which her father could understand what his daughter was originally thinking without her having to say it.
When did you first encounter Aki Nishihara and Haruhi Ito and why cast them?
西原亜希さんとイトウハルヒさんとはオーディションで出会いました。今回の映画は演技力のみですべてキャスティングを選びたかったので、なんの忖度もないオーディション方法で選んだ次第です。二人とも純粋な演技の審査のみでキャスティングをしました。演技力に加え、見た目や性格などを加味してキャスティングに至った次第です。
I met Aki Nishihara and Haruhi Ito at an audition. For this movie, I wanted to select the actors based solely on their acting ability, so I chose them using an audition method that had no preconceptions. Both actors were cast based solely on their acting performance. In addition to their acting ability, we took into consideration their appearance and personality when casting them.
This was brilliantly acted. The characters don’t verbalise anything they feel until near the end. Exposition is very low. The actors convey so much through pursed lips, a pause in their step, or a downcast gaze. How did you work with them in bringing to life?
主人公の西原亜希さんとは、感情を表に出すことが出来ないキャラクターであることを話し合いました。彼女の生まれ育った環境や性格から、言いたいことを表に出すことが出来ないことが今回の物語でもとても大切であることを確認しました。例えば手を摩ったり、瞬きをしたりする微妙な所作が目に入るのは、彼女が言葉でなくそういう所作によって本音の部分を伝えようとしているからだと思います。その彼女の本音の部分を父親や職員は探りだそうとしているが故に、他の登場人物たちもそういう細かい演技が必要になっていったのかと思います。
I talked with the lead actress, Aki Nishihara, about her character being unable to express her emotions. Due to her upbringing and personality, she is unable to express what she wants to say, which is very important in this story. For example, I think the subtle gestures she makes, such as rubbing her hands or blinking, are noticeable because she is trying to convey her true feelings through those gestures rather than through words. I think it’s because her father and the welfare staff are trying to find out her true feelings that the other characters need such detailed acting.
The sequence involving the river must have been complex to execute. How was it shot?
川の撮影は大変でした（笑）実際に川に車が突入すること自体がとても大変で、実際に突入する際はカースタントをお願いしました。スタントの方はすごく優秀で川の途中でスタックをしたいポイントそのままに車を止めてくださいましたので、理想的な撮影が出来たと思います。撮影は11月と寒い時期でもあったので、役者への安全面の考慮なども十分に配慮をし撮影を行いました。
Filming the river was difficult (haha) It was very difficult to actually drive the car into the river, so we asked for a car stunt where it actually entered the river. The stunt people were very good and stopped the car exactly at the point where we wanted it to get stuck in the middle of the river, so I think we were able to get the ideal shot. Since the filming took place in November, a cold season, we paid careful attention to the safety of the actors.
Aki Nishihara gives a really, really moving monologue towards the end of the film. How was that filmed?
あのシーンはクランクアップで撮影したものです。あの撮影の時にはすでに彼女の中に直子が生きているので、自分はほとんど何も言わかったと思います。意図的に撮影のスケジュールをあのシーンでラストにすることで彼女の中で生きていた直子がそのまましゃべっている感じが出せたのかなと思いました。直子は今まで生きてきた中でほとんど本音や感情を表に出さないで生きてきたので、あのシーンにおいてようやく自分の気持ちが言える瞬間になったかと思います。
That scene was shot cranked up. At the time of that shoot, Naoko was already alive inside her, so I think I said almost nothing. I think that by intentionally making that scene the last scene in the shooting schedule, I was able to create the feeling that Naoko, who was living inside her, was speaking through her. Naoko has lived her entire life without expressing her true feelings or emotions, so I think that scene was the moment when she finally got to express her feelings.
The film can be seen as bleak in the aspect of family. However, one definition of love is that it is labour and endurance. The fact that Naoko and her parents stayed together, even if forced by circumstances, and the fact that they worked together for as long as they could, suggests that there was some love between them. How would you define love and its relation to the family at the centre of this film?
この物語で定義される家族の在り方とは、運命のようなものかと思います。良くも悪くも運命であるが故に、家族としている/居続けなくてはいけない、という状況になったのかなとも思っています。父親が蒸発した中で家族の絆は強く結ばれるようになりましたが、同時にそこから逃げることが出来ない運命が始まったとも言えます。本来であれば子供は家族から自立するものですが、主人公の直子は運命を抱えているが故に自立すことが出来なかった。心中という悲劇的な選択をしたのは、確かに悲劇でありますが、直子から家族から自立をするための選択であったとも思っています。
直子が家族の愛に気付けたのは、最後、自分の気持ちを吐露し、自分が自立したことを実感したときに気付くことが出来たのではないかと思っています。
I think the definition of family, in this story, is like fate. For better or for worse, it’s fate that has led them to be in a situation where they have to stay together as a family. With her father evaporating [editor’s note: disappearing], the family bond [between the women] became stronger, but at the same time, it could be said that a fate from which Naoko could no longer escape had begun.
Normally, children are supposed to be independent from their families, but Naoko is unable to become independent because of her fate. It is certainly a tragedy that she made the choice to commit suicide, but I also believe that it was a choice she made to gain independence from her family.
I think that the only time Naoko was able to realize her family’s love was when she finally expressed her feelings and realized that she had become independent.
What ended up happening to Kei?
ケイに関して少しわかりにくいかと思います。ケイは家の次女ですが、母親は経済的困難から養子に出すことになったのです。突然仲の良かった姉のケイがいなくなったことで、直子の中に自分もいつか家族から見放されるのではないか、という恐怖心を持つようになったと思っています。
I think it’s a little difficult to understand but Kei. the second daughter of the family, was put up for adoption by the mother due to financial difficulties. With the sudden disappearance of her older sister Kei, with whom she was close, Naoko began to fear that she too would be abandoned by her family someday.
How do you imagine Naoko’s life continuing?
映画で一番描きたかったのは、希望です。直子は生活保護を受けることはできませんでしたが、福祉サポートを受けることが出来るようになり、おそらく更生保護施設を三か月程度で出て、その後福祉のサポートを受けながら堅実に仕事をして生きていると思います。
What I wanted to portray most in the movie was hope. Naoko was not able to receive welfare support until the end and she is probably able to leave the rehabilitation facility after about three months and then work steadily while receiving welfare support. I think that’s how Naoko lives.
What do you hope audiences take from the film?
弱者の存在を知ってほしいと思います。自分もかつて大病を患ったことがあり、それ以来自分という存在は弱者である、という意識が根底にあり続けています。その弱者の視点からしか物事は見えないと思っており、それは自分が映画を作るテーマにもなっています。是非その視点を理解し、感じてほしいと思っています。
I want people to know that there are weak people. I myself once suffered from a serious illness, and ever since then I have always had a deep-rooted sense of myself as a weak person. I believe that things can only be seen from the perspective of the weak, and this is also the theme of my films. I hope you will understand and feel that perspective.
Thank you and please thank the cast and crew for making Snowdrop.
Snowdrop was screened at Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024 on March 05. It will play again on March 08 at ABC Hall at 10:20.
You can read my review here.