“The biggest considerations I had were practical: how do you move such a large number of actors around a small space? So, for example, if I have to have the mother bring a pot of tea from the kitchen to the living room and serve it to the others, how do I, on a practical level, get everyone into the frame? Any decisions I made about the camera angles or movement came out of necessity, versus any sort of stylistic choice.” IfsMadeMovingMotherChoicesActorsSpaceDecisionLevelsRoomsNumbersExampleMovementCamerasPracticalsTeaKitchenConsiderationPotAngleVersusLiving RoomLarge NumbersSmall SpacesCamera Angles Author:Hirokazu Koreeda
“But then foreign critics right away made sweeping comparisons to haiku, noh theater, and directors like Ozu, as if the movie were somehow representative of Japan - which was, well, not what I was after. Similarly, with After Life, I deliberately set out to make a movie that was unlike what I imagined the foreign conception of Japan to be, and I figured non-Japanese wouldn't find it interesting at all.” IfsWellsMadeInterestingDirectorsTheaterCriticsJapanComparisonConceptionRepresentativesHaikuSweepingNoh Author:Hirokazu Koreeda
“If a movie is nominated for, say, an Academy award, that movie will instantly become popular in Japan. There's always been a bit of a complex the Japanese have about being taken seriously in the West.” IfsBitsTakenWestComplexesJapanAwardsAcademyAcademy Awards Author:Hirokazu Koreeda
