Naoki Tamaki is a self-described film addict. He recently sat through a screening of the entire Harry Potter series: a 20-hour event that brought together hardcore Potter fans to relieve the magic of the films.
Tamaki recently moved to Australia to study English, but he’s also been enjoying the movie culture in Sydney, already becoming a regular cinema-goer. Now he’s getting ready to see some films from his homeland as the touring Japan Film Festival makes its way to the east coast of Australia.
What is your experience with Japanese films?
I love films. I watch movies every weekend. When I worked as a student officer in the International House of my university in Japan, where lots of foreign students lived, I used to host movie nights called “Naoki Cinema”. I would show them some typical Japanese movies. In these movies you can see Japanese culture, it’s very helpful for people wanting to know more about Japan or studying Japanese.
What are some of the Japanese films that everyone should see?
Slice-of-life, or movies about daily life. They show realistic stories, typical Japanese families. There are so many typical Japanese phrases, so these kinds of movies are really good for people learning Japanese.
For this kind of film, I recommend something like Goodbye, Grandpa! (おじいちゃん、死んじゃったって。), which is showing at the Festival. This shows a slice of life from a Japanese family, so maybe it’s good for people who previously didn’t know anything about Japanese culture or lifestyle.
Many people only know about anime or Japanese horror films. Maybe like The Grudge. But Japanese films are more than that. My favourite movie is Always: Sunset on Third Street (ALWAYS 三丁目の夕日 ), the story is beautiful, it makes me cry a lot. Maybe a good one from the JFF in this style would be The Travelling Cat Chronicles (旅猫リポート)
But I also like anime. My top anime recommendations would be from Studio Ghibli, the so-called Disney of Japan. I always watched these when I was younger. They’re educational as well as entertaining, and often they focus on daily life that I can relate to. I also recommend Detective Conan: Crimson Love Letter (名探偵コナン から紅の恋歌). When I was little I loved Conan the best, because it was the most interesting and also the show that made me really think! It was better than all of the other things on TV. Solving the mysteries on Conan is always exciting.
Oh, and I also want to see Mary and the Witch’s Flower (メアリと魔女の花), another anime at the Festival. This one looks good for kids, too.
To learn about Japan, I recommend DESTINY: The Tale of Kamakura (DESTINY 鎌倉ものがたり). Kamakura is one of the best places in Japan, it’s very historical. So by watching this movie you can learn more about this period of Japan’s history. And also Kamakura is one of the best places for tourists in Japan, because you can see so much about Japanese traditional culture and life. And also this movie sounds fun.
What’s different about Japanese cinema compared to films made in the US or Australia?
It depends on the movies, but often films from Japan tend to focus on very realistic situations.
They’re very close to real life, very down-to-earth. So I think these create really interesting experiences for the audiences.
These movies often show us about how people think, and show a different side of some Japanese events such as the war or even the redevelopment of postwar Japan. In This Corner of the World (この世界の片隅に) looks like this kind of film, and the animation looks nice.
Japanese crime movies can be very clever and engaging. The Third Murder (三度目の殺人) won six prizes at the 41st Japan Academy Awards, including Picture of the Year. I watched this one, it really makes you think and I was very interested in seeing the way the criminal’s thoughts were shown as well as that of the detectives. And Japanese crime movies often have crazy plot twists, so they’re always exciting to watch.
And what's your favourite snack to have while watching films?
Caramel popcorn.
Find out more about the Japan Film Festival 2018 here.