Press Conference: “Map of the Sounds of Tokyo” by Isabel Coixet
Isabel Coixet met the journalists today to discuss "Map of the Sounds of Tokyo"
The Spanish director Isabel Coixet explained her intentions in making her latest film, Map of the Sounds of Tokyo during the press conference today. Joining her on the podium were actors Rinko Kikuchi and Sergi López, as well as her producer Jaume Roures. Selected highlights follow.
Isabel Coixet on Japan:
The first time I went to Japan, some 15 years ago, I felt myself very much at home…I felt that the differences between the Japanese and the French or the Spanish were not as great as all that. My obsession has always been to try to the see what are the points of similarities between people; what are the aspects of humanity that we all share… I think that both the Catalans and the Japanese are obsessed with food.
Isabel Coixet on the city of Tokyo:
I love Japanese culture. I love classical Japanese literature; I love contemporary literature. I’m a great fan of many Japanese writers, Haruki Murakami and Banana Yoshimoto. I love Japanese food, fish dishes, everything. My company is called Miss Wasabi. Japan is a country in which I feel very much at home. I think the courtesy that is expressed, the way people get to know one another, it can be portrayed perhaps as an obstacle, a barrier, but for me, all these mannerisms and the way people make gestures with their heads, the respect they show for others, all this is important… The Tokyo that I love is the Tokyo of the more popular neighborhoods where you can discover a real local life.
Sergi López on working with Rinko Kikuchi :
Before I went there, I had a rather simplistic, a rather stupid, short-sighted image; I really wasn’t familiar with Japan. But now the image I have of Japan is very difficult to separate from the film itself. For me, the film is Tokyo, Isabel and Rinko Kikuchi. She’s somebody very difficult to forget; it was great, it was wonderful. Something happened that I still haven’t understood; it’s what happens when actors are together in a film. There’s something strange that always occurs. She doesn’t speak Catalan; I don’t speak Japanese, so we had to speak English to make ourselves understood. So it was a very imperfect form of English on both sides, and in fact, this encouraged us to act together. And I was absolutely astonished to see that Rinko was always present and followed my every word, every breath. So it was an immense experience that reconciles you with the idea of acting …that it can be natural.
