Interview Mahito the Peapo x Mirai Moriyama x Kentaro Tomita | The movie "iai"

——Mr. Mahit has used various expressions such as music and writing activities, but how did you decide to produce a movie this time?

Mahit: At the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, we couldn't do a festival called “Zensen Festival (*)”, which we were doing ourselves, so we had more power. At that time, there was a fear of witnessing in real time that dense communication in the live house was also deprived and swallowed by history, and I was thinking about where the sound that was supposed to sound would disappear. Even if the world pretends to be the original street, what we cherished is likely to be robbed again. If you are in fantasy, you can reproduce the scene that was taboo in the corona disaster such as mosches and dives. It was also a time when I was conscious about recording some signs in that way. So there is a place where the method of movies has come up.

——Did you have any influence on Director Toshiaki Toyoda's "Day of Destruction" (2020)?

Mahit: That's right. When I went out on the Day of Destruction, I thought that filmmaking was similar to a festival. I think there are some directors who try to perfectly reproduce what I drew in my head, but I think it's a movie that collects the signs of the people there and the breath of those who are no longer visible as one phenomenon. The "All Sensence Festival" is also on the front, but each performer is entrusted with how to chew what he wrote in the statement, dissolve it in his blood, and how to perform. On top of that, it was made up of sharing the same space with many people, and I thought that film and festival were similar.

——Do you mean that the energy of a group, not an individual?

Mahit: That's right. I've been aware of it recently. When asked by a friend's rapper called Campanella, "What about the movie, Mahito?" he said, "I've made a good movie." Then Campanella told me, "It's rare for Mahit to praise his work." Certainly, after I made my album, I sometimes said, "I made my best," but I never let go of saying, "I've made good things."

——I see.

Mahit: I think it's a difference in nature rather than the superiority of the work. Last November, we held an event called "Road Trip To Zen Sensence Festival" at Tochigi Park in Kawasaki, but just before that, OLAibi, who also made this film music together, died, and I felt different from the usual year. But if you ask, "How was the whole sense festival?", You can say, "No, it was the best," regardless of the content of your act. I think that's because it's not just myself, but the phenomenon of "all sensation festivals". There's such a feeling in the movie. Of course, there are places where I have authority because of the director, but it's not just my own story anymore.

——Over the past few years, Mr. Mahit has been working with Millilon Wish Collective, a large chorus unit, for a collective expression. Why is that?

Mahit: Like the band, the film team is like a tribe (tribe)? For a certain period of time, people who have lived different ways of living share the air toward common goals and align their direction. I think it's a spiritual thing because I'm combining that person's life or borrowing time for life. I think I'm interested in how I interact with others.

——At the same time, there seems to be a feeling that I am interested and believe in what comes from relationships with others.

Mahit: That's right. Behind this is a large group, a certain kind of alarm against a huge system like a nation. During this time, I watched a video of a conflict area crying out "God is sleeping" on the Internet, but there were many opportunities to think "what is praying?" I often think, "What is religion?" "What is God enough to create conflict?", And I have to think about what it means to be involved with others or to be with someone who has a different idea from yourself. That's one of the themes for me.

——By the way, did you have any acquaintance with Mirai before this filming?

Mahit: No, I didn't have anything at all. There are some actors I know personally, but rather than having them appear in such a relationship, I wanted them to judge whether this script is worth a movie without filtering. It's a personal story, and I have thoughts, so there are places where I can't judge flat on my own. Eita Nagayama had no acquaintance, and Mr. Koizumi (Kyoko) met with recording the song "Redo Ondo", which is the insertion song of "Day of Destruction", but that's the relationship. I didn't know the production studio Blue, and it started with only the information that "the staff seems to be coming and going to the curry shop I often go to."

——On the other hand, there are also people who can be said to be Mahit's ally, such as K-BOMB and Commeai.

Mahit: This time, I may have thought quite a bit about the balance between the people who work together for the first time. I wonder if it would be nice to gather staff members who knew how to make a movie and get the opinion that "making a movie is like this." I thought about an exquisite chemistry, or wanted to do it as an extension of what I've done so far.

——Why did you offer Mirai-san the most important role in this work, He's older brother?

Mahit: This movie is a primitive story, and I think it's a story that has been portrayed many times in the movie where a person who admireds died and goes from loss to playback again. Among them, the characters live with emotions that are neither light nor shadow, or unnamed emotions. Expression also has the role of giving contour to such ambiguous things, so I think it's something that people who catch things in a plane cannot face. I think that Mr. Mirai has expressed various things three-dimensionally while placing the most unreplaceable thing called the body in the middle. That's why I'm the only one.

——How did you feel when you received the offer?

Moriyama: Originally, I had a different job with Studio Blue producers, but in that context I received an offer saying, "There's such a story." I was rude, but at that time I didn't know the existence of GEZAN and Mahit, so I read the script without any previous information. It was like a novel, and I didn't make the script body, but it was something that directly conveys Mahito's world view. "I don't know how this will be a movie, but it's interesting to go into one leg." However, there is also a flagile that I don't know how it will be established as a movie. At that time, I listened to GEZAN's album called "KLUE" and felt "Oh, it might be okay."

——What kind of feeling was it?

Moriyama: I think it's simple and reliable. At the same time, I felt that I was seriously thinking about how I could deliver it to the people who live now. There are some songs that flew, but I felt that it was a music made with the aim of delivering the words properly. If you are a person who has made such a drop, you can trust it. After that, I received a letter from Mahit.

——What kind of letter was it?

Moriyama: It was a very hand-made letter with no thoughts, and I was happy too. But I think I did it even if I didn't have that letter.

——What did you feel when you read the script?

Tomita: I read from the point of view of Kou that I play, but there are many parts I don't understand. That's why I wanted to see Mr. Mahit and listened to him. I guess I'm trying to express something like vague love that I feel for my family, friends, and seniors, but Mr. Mahito seems to be trying to convey something that transcends such things, and I want him to carry it on the role of Ko. But at that time, I didn't know what happened.

——Why don't you go to the site without knowing it?

Tomita: That's right. At the beginning of the filming, I just wanted to do what I could do at that time.

——What kind of person was the real person who became the model of He brother?

Mahit: He was really like his brother in the play. There are many things I can't write here (laughs). I'm called Yachi-chan, but I've always been inspired. I was taught about BOREDOMS and various bands, and I always wanted my brother to watch GEZAN live. I'm going to play with Seiichi Yamamoto, and finally I can see it by my brother! When I tried to contact me, I was told that I had just died. It's also the first loss for the band. Taka (a member of GEZAN) also played a band together.

——Was your brother a musician?

Mahit: Yes, you're a musician. I thought Yachi-chan's brother would turn the world upside down, but if I think later, the existence remains only on CD-R. In that sense, I'm not a person who left some scars in the form that remains in the data in the world, but it's clearly carved in my memory. The numbers "I sold tens of thousands of CDs" and "I mobilized thousands of people live" are engraved as records, but I think the fact that I changed one's life is amazing. I don't think it's inferior to a lot of numbers.

——That's right.

Mahit: Ian Mackay, who was playing a band called Fugaji, also said, "Really radical and wonderful music can always be witnessed by only a small number of people," but when I usually go to watch live, I feel like that. There is also a feeling like a counter to the current world where productivity is emphasized.

——So, is the Kou played by Mr. Tomita also Mahito?

Mahit: That's often heard. He is his brother a mahit, or he is a mahit. Tomita came to see GEZAN's live performance, but he said, "Mahito, he's just his brother." In other words, I don't think anyone is myself, and I think all the characters came out through their blood.

——How did Moriyama think he would play his brother?

Moriyama: First of all, I thought the place to shoot was also important. At the screenplay stage, Akashi and Kobe were set, but there was such a story about whether to shoot Kobe in the sea around Yokohama or Kamakura, assuming Kobe or actually do it in Kobe. I thought I had to go to Kobe. I thought it was important to shoot on the spot, which is said to have influenced GEZAN, and the script was born there. And since it is a story of the Seto Inland Sea and the story of the sky, that unique humidity and color will never come out in the sea and sky of the Pacific Ocean, and it will be a different work. I've been saying that from the beginning.

Mahit: One of the conditions for Mirai to appear was "take a picture in the sea of Kobe".

——Certainly, the color of the sea is very unique, and it creates the tranquility unique to this movie. What kind of image did Mr. Mahit superimpose on the sea?

Mahit: I took pictures with an awareness of the pools of the sea without leaving the Seto Inland Sea. That was something that could not be substituted. One of the scenes that are not reflected in the seaside is actors and towns that were exposed to the wind of the seaside, and the sea made them film. When I look at the sea from the shore, I think that the desire to "get out of this place" makes the person stand there, but once I was looking at the sea of Kobe with a complicated feeling that I couldn't say in a word. I think the sea, which allows me to feel confused, symbolized the three-dimensional effect of this film.

——Mr. Moriyama comes from Kobe, right? Whether it's Kobe or Akashi, I think it was a shooting in a familiar place.

Moriyama: That's right. In the world of dance, there were many more people in Kansai. I think the world of music is probably the same, but there are many people who are connected to living by dancing, and I think there are still many people.

Mahit: What's that soil in Kansai? There were a lot of things in the world of music.

Moriyama: Osaka is the same, and the city of Kobe is also a hangout for such people. Being adapted to society, living in efficiency, and expressing. It's just that there is a difference in the balance between what you can and what you can't do. In other words, there are things you can't do, and there are sharp things you can do. In performing He's brother, there were places where I was doing it while imagining the people I have met so far.

——That's interesting, isn't it? It is said that Mahito and Moriyama each image a different real person, and that is fruitful to Hi brother on the screen.

Moriyama: That's right. The smile is soft enough for those people (laughs). I would like to express my gratitude, "Thank you."

Mahit: Oh, I understand. I'm not bound by binding or responsibility, and I'm not carrying something on my back, so the circuit that directly shows my emotions and feelings on my expression is simple, and the speed to express my intuition may be fast.

Moriyama: I think I can react very naturally to something at that time.

——What kind of production did Mr. Mahit perform? When you look at the work, you gradually become unable to understand how far Mahit's production and how far Moriyama is improvised.

Moriyama: I've been talking with Mahit all the time between shootings, but I don't think there were few stories that I wanted you to do this or that. Of course, there were times when there was a story like "I want you to move this way because the angle of view looks like this."

Mahit: I haven't yet understood what production is, so I'd like to listen to other directors. I don't think there is a difference between non-fiction and fiction. Strictly speaking, things that are said to be documentaries are directed there, and things that are called fiction vary depending on the way that the person has lived. I convey the image, but I have to finally leave it to the actors what kind of interpretation they interpret and what kind of expression they play.

——What was the atmosphere of the filming scene like?

Mahit: Friends and acquaintances of actors who came to the preview, such as Masanobu Ando and Ryuhei Matsuda, told me, "I can tell you that the atmosphere of the site was good." I can't compare it with others because it's my first movie site, but I think everyone was like baseball compared to regular dramas and movies with fixed compositions. (While facing Moriyama) How was it compared to other sites?

Moriyama: It was Mahit's first filming, and it was Sauchi's first filming, but it was surprisingly proper (laughs). There is no impulsive movement such as "I do this after all" or "I want to do this" on the spot, how I want to take the script, the image is organized among Mahito and Sauchi, and I walk steadily on it I think it was shooting. However, it wasn't really decided, there were scenes where I coordinated in the field exchange, and there were moments like a kind of session.

——How was Mr. Tomita?

Tomita: I didn't experience the film scene so much, but anyway, I was doing it while feeling the air of Akashi and Kobe all the time. Mahito and Sauchi were talking in the air, and the shooting proceeded while looking at the backs of the two. However, Mr. Sauchi told me, "I don't have a desire to shoot you" (laughs). I feel like that was the answer to this script in myself. I was looking for something as Kentaro Tomita and Kou, but I feel that Mr. Sauchi was disappointed.

Moriyama: Speaking of which, I feel like I was a little bit hilared to Mr. Sauchi than Mahito (laughs). I think Sauchi's style has an aesthetic of how to get off the frame, so when I replaced it with a video, I couldn't see at all how it would be taken. So at first, there was a feeling of hyawn in the sense of "What kind of picture does this look like?"

Mahit: Before the filming started, I was conveying the image of director Nobuhiko Obayashi to the staff inside. I don't want to shoot a movie like director Obayashi, but I think it would be nice to overflow my image as embarrassing like Obayashi's work.

Moriyama: I don't know what GEZAN and Obayashi's works are.

Mahit: When I had a meeting with Mr. Sauchi before shooting, Mr. Sauchi played a video of Director Obayashi on YouTube and said, "I think Mahito can take such a movie." I didn't talk about director Obayashi. So, at first, there were places where I was hiding, but there were places where I bet on Mr. Sauchi's sense of capturing invisible things. However, at first, Mr. Sauchi said, "I'm going to the scene without reading the script" (laughs). As expected, shy.

Moriyama: But did you read it from the middle?

Mahit: That's right. I thought, "This is different" (laughs). Around that time, Mr. Sauchi is also a person with an animal sense. Among them, I was conscious of my role in the field. For example, when softening the air at the site, try to make a voice like "By-n". Isn't that very animal-like? There are a lot of parts that Mr. Sauchi protected the pure margins.

——If anything, I was wondering if Mahit had softened the air in the field, but Mr. Sauchi played that role.

Tomita: That's right. Mahit told me a lot of things in the conversation between shootings. It's a desire to convey, and I'm encouraged by LINE that Tomita is not enough for this now.

Mahit: I wonder if there was such a thing (laughs).

Tomita: "Okay, you can do it," give me LINE when I'm really worried. In the second half of the filming, I've been waiting for that LINE all the time (laughs). I'm very timid, so I'm anxious. At that time, when I saw the phone waiting, I thought it was okay.

——He's older brother in the first half was a casual and dangerous person, but he felt like he was moving from the middle. Have you ever been conscious of how to move your body?

Moriyama: I think there is a part that is influenced by Mr. Sauchi's way of cutting and Mahito's script. He's older brother escapes from the noise that can occur by living from the middle, so maybe that's around. I didn't speak much in the second half.

Mahit: What I wanted to take care of in the film was how to catch death and how to catch parting. Death is one goal, and sometimes the word "lost" is applied to it, but so let's say everyone loses, and I think everyone has to carry the theme as a party. In other words, death also makes the soul free from the body. I think I've been talking about that with Mr. Mirai all the time.

——From the middle stage, the work itself will become lighter and lighter. The last scene was particularly impressive. What kind of things did you think about?

Tomita: I read the line over there in the audition. At that time, I felt like I did as much as I could. During the shooting, I talked about various things with Mahito and the progress of shooting gave me a sense of responsibility more and more. The consciousness of "I'm going to talk on my own after receiving the love of the characters" grew steadily. But I didn't know how to tell you. After a while after the shooting was over, there were places where I finally understood the meaning of words.

——There are scenes where I repeat many times, "I have to speak in my own voice," but that also leads to what Tomita himself was conscious of.

Tomita: That's right. That's why I don't know how far it is, how far I am, and how much I am.

Mahit: I was walking alone on the way home from the preview yesterday, and I thought this was the story that Ko encountered poetry. Tomita also encounters poetry from the point of "I don't understand well" and faces it. I may be able to understand a little about the movie by taking a picture in the future, but I can't return to myself when I didn't understand it. Listening to the story now, I felt like I understood why I cast Kentaro Tomita saying "I don't understand well."

——Also, I felt that the music in the play was increasing the strength of the work. What did Mr. Mahit imagine about the play companion?

Mahit: I understand the intent of all scenes at a synchro rate of 100%, so I think I was able to take advantage of that characteristic. Rather than focusing on creating the mood of the scene, there are moments when the image advances more than the story, and the image landscape guided by the sound itself plays a leading role. Also, the sound of OLAibi, who began to work as a support member of GEZAN in the wake of this play, added a new image to my "iai".

——Unfortunately, OLAibi died last October, but the moment she hit the percussion sound, I was filled with heart.

Mahit: I feel like "Thank you for teaching me the beauty of recording." I can't see you in this world anymore, but the words released in this film gave me the power to come back to myself like a boomerang and stand up again.

——How did you feel when you saw the completed work?

Moriyama: As a result, I thought it was the first work of Mahit. The first person of Mahito is engraved on the last scene, as well as his brother and other characters, which is connected in a single work. In the case of the stage, there are performers on the stage, there are spectators who watch it, and they share their fiction through the interaction between the two. However, the movie has a video sticking to the screen, which is made up of a one-on-one relationship between the video and the audience. "I and a movie" are talking in a dark room called a theater. I think that's the characteristic of movies, and that's why I like movies. In that sense, I think this film uses the best medium of film to say, "I'm talking to you." To put it simply, Mahito's artist character is on the whole surface, and I thought it was a powerful work.

——By the way, do you intend to continue your activities as a film director after this?

Moriyama: You can't do it. I have to take three pictures (laughs).

Mahit: No, I'm in the magic of a movie. I don't know a bit about whether making a movie is a job or something, but isn't it such a happy thing, including renting a person's life for weeks?　I'd like you to pray for this film rather than praying to the grave after you die. I think this is more me than me in the grave.

Mirai Moriyama costume
Jackets ￥76,000, pants ￥32,000/Sasquatchfabrix.
Shoes ￥40,700/ASICS RUNWALK
Contact information　
Sasquatchfabrix.
ASICS RUNWALK (Customer Consultation Office, ASICS Japan Co., Ltd.) 0120-068-806