日本製造 メイド・イン・ジャパン 「Nihon Seizo Meido in Japan」
Running Time: 30 mins.
Release Date: February 23rd, 2019
Director: Yusaku Matsumoto
Writer: Yusaku Matsumoto (Screenplay),
Starring: Takahiro Konishi (Kyoichi), Rino Higa (Natsuki), Kohei Shinya (Kenta), Akane Tsuchiyama (Sairi), MAO (Streamer), Keitoku Ito (Reporter),
Films about media making people do immoral things are so plentiful that one can trace the evolution and ubiquity of media as a whole.
Print media is represented by Kirk Douglas’s crooked journalist exploiting a child in jeopardy story by rotary telephone in Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole (1951), while television execs boost ratings by showcasing a madman in a studio in Sidney Lumet’s Network (1976). Meanwhile, Tim Robins’s murderous movie producer bumping off a writer in between cruising the studio lot is the motor of Robert Altman’s The Player (1992). More recently, social media and influencers are utilised in Spree (2020), Dashcam (2021), and Influencer (2022) where commentors push protagonists wielding cameras and smartphones to extremes as they broadcast their acts.
Most titles are horror or satirical black comedies seen from the side of the people making media.
Yusaku Matsumoto’s 30-minute short Made in Japan is a story told from the other side as a bunch of media-savvy young adults milk the media for money. Equally lurid in story while glitzy to look at, Matsumoto’s aesthetic approach and his cast’s performance’s capture the spin and dangers of the media cycle and how that same cycle has created people empty and gaudy.
Slight spoilers ahead
Kyoichi (Takahiro Konishi) is a 20-something yankii. With a blonde dye job, tattoos, and a loutish attitude, this scrapyard worker doesn’t have much going on in his life and society doesn’t want much to do with him. The same can be said for his equally abrasive friends and girlfriend Natsuki (Rino Higa), all of whom act aggressive, drink to excess, watch nuisance streamers on smartphones, smoke weed, and fuck for fun.
Their avarice, aggression, and greed act as an outlet for nihilistic impulses but the media sensationalisation surrounding the torching of a 17-year-old raises their ambitions when Kyoichi learns about the crime and recognises the culprit as a former co-worker. Once he posts about his connection to the killer on social media, a deluge of interview requests from news orgs pours in, all of whom are eager to get a piece of the story and are willing to pay. Pretty soon, the stakes and money increase as Kyoichi and co keep stringing the media along with tall tales…
“More story, more money.”
The film follows familiar lines of people getting their comeuppance as Kyoichi and pals get burnt by the media attention they stoked and ironically become a bigger part of the story than they might have wished to be.
A lot of the tension is seeing Kyoichi and his crew, pushed by social media notoriety and cahs-money, try to keep the lies going and, Icarus-like, fly too close to the sun. Performances are top notch in this regard as Konishi, Higa, and co are very vivid and charismatic as the conspirators on the make. They play their characters with the right amount of high energy alchemy combining loud voices, sloppy movements, and ugly dress sense to get across their boorishness and hedonism and disregard for others and a lack of foresight. It naturally segues from scenes of them downing drink and drugs to coarsely talking to reporters and making ridiculous claims to chase after money.
Their unrestrained surliness is counterbalanced by a string of media personalities who start naïve and normal-looking and get wiser the higher the stakes. Perfectly cast is distinctive actor Keitoku Ito whose sharklike grin speaks of the sort of quick-witted reporter encouraging transgressive behaviour that he can exploit and so when he turns the tables on the liars, it feels natural, as does their falling out when reality bites and the good time fades.
Visually, the film always looks good but Matsumoto channels the glitz that brightens the dull lives of the characters. Most noticeable are the transitions to Kyoichi and co’s pleasure seeking and the media-driven hedonism. Cinematographer Kentaro Kishi (The Sower, Noise, Bagmati River, Where Love Goes) when the screen is doused with dazzling lighting, garish colours that act as a fitting background/distraction for easily-amused people with short attention spans and no capacity for reflection.
Matsumoto maintains thematic examination of media influence as we can see the characters might model their behaviour on a nuisance Twitch streamer (played by MAO – One Cut of the Dead), whose silly streaming escapades involving kissing perfect strangers and exploiting the murder for views. Her sections, filmed in a boxier aspect ratio, slip in and out of the story to serve to show the moral bankruptcy and ignorance of social mores that Kyoichi’s generation witness and learn from online.
Equally, an insert/needle drop moment from the idol group “Yurumerumo!” (You’ll Melt More) music video in an ironic way wherein the cutesy and capitalism is contrasted with the malignant media environment and moral depravity the young characters exist in. This is in a way similar to The World of Kanako (2014).
These jarringly different images and visual textures are wonderfully theatrical and get across the varied media environment people access and are influenced by.
Even with the character clashes and visual flourishes, director Matsumoto never loses sight of the social critique as he shows journos lapping up the tall tales which, in themselves, act as set ups for social commentary pay offs later. Each lie has a ripple effect. The disclosure that the suspect is Zainichi-Korean unleashes a wave of racism while outlandish tales of torture increases the grue that keeps readers glued to the murder case. Everything a vicious circle acts to keep people hooked due to the sensationalism which we see comes naturally to Kyoichi and others due to the content they consume. Thus, when the film reaches its dramatic climax with a very ironic bout of violence, it feels earned and all the more potent because anyone who uses the internet will recognise the means and methods of communication and the topics that are communicated.
Pitched seriously as a morality tale but quick paced and visually exciting, the film is quite potent as it presents a recognisable media landscape and always clear-eyed in how the characters are clearly playing with fire when working the media and also shaped by it via the lifestyle.
Yusaku Matsumoto’s short Made in Japan will be available to stream globally from October 24th (excluding Japan).
Idol/actress Ano was a member of You’ll Melt More! before going solo in 2019 and appearing in Whales Bones.