Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Privacy is not really a concept in Japan.
Maybe family is an eternal subject for me.
I am very happy that Japanese film can cross borders.
Japanese society doesn't have a god - no absolute presence.
In terms of film festivals, Cannes is the greatest launch pad.
A lot of people, especially Japanese, come to the theater to have a good cry.
There was a time when I thought Kim Novak was the sexiest woman in the world.
There's a difference between people being free and the atmosphere of 'freedom.'
When you make a documentary, you have to adapt to what reality imposes upon you.
Japanese feel an intimacy with the dead, at least for people up to my generation.
I'm less interested in death itself than in people whose lives are touched by it.
I think a lot of Japanese morals are built around what the dead would think of us.
I am hopeful that films can connect people who are in conflict in a separated world.
When I watch an actress say a line, I watch how they deliver the lines with gestures.
I don't really like something serious depicted in a serious way; that's not my style.
If my films did better at the box office in Japan, it would be easier to get them made.
Directing while overcoming differences of language and culture is a stimulating challenge.
When I have been told that my films remind people of Ozu, I have never been too convinced.
'Like Father, Like Son' gave me the opportunity to show when it is not good with a father.
The vividness of children is easier to see when they're completely left to their own devices.
The children in 'Nobody Knows' had a resonance with me. The children are projections of myself.
I'm so entranced by what unfolds in front of the camera. It seems wonderfully out of my control.
I never want to be the all-knowing god of the story, manipulating what's to happen or the action.
I would say that 'After the Storm' is much more informed by my personal life than my other movies.
Sometimes when you watch children, you feel that they show emotions that you, as an adult, can relate to.
I have never made a film to praise or to criticize something. That kind of filmmaking is nothing but propaganda.
My mother used to work in a bank in Tokyo. It was a busy district, and after work, she used to go and watch films.
When making documentaries, the most important thing I learned was to listen, observe gestures and facial expressions.
I've been a fan of Yoshida Akimi's manga for a long time; she's one of a few women's manga writers that I always read.
When I was 27, I won an honorable mention in a scriptwriting contest and got a television job as an assistant director.
We can see loss as something missing, but that missing space can be filled with something else, and that creates healing.
I believe that any auteur categorised in terms of an -ist or an -ism wouldn't be able to capture the complex essence of human nature.
As a son and as a father, there are still various things that I haven't done as well as I should have - that's my dilemma and regret.
Fast cutting, loud music, blood spewing everywhere, and gunshots permeating the scenes does not necessarily make for a shocking movie.
Hardly anyone says anything real in the courtroom. Almost everything is decided ahead of time, and the truth is found behind the scenes.
It is righteous to receive state subsidies to make films that criticise the state - I want Japanese people to accept such European values.
When I make films, I don't think of any other directors or their work in terms of the rhythm of the editing or the tenor of the performances.
Yes, a family is interesting. You can get a lot of drama in the conflicts there. It's like the sea. It seems calm, but inside there is conflict.
Tokyo is wonderful for distribution of international films, a lot of Iranian films, Taiwanese films. But most of the art films are from Europe and Asia.
I wanted to make 'Nobody Knows,' a kind of summation of the experiences I gained from making my first three films, the good ones as well as the bad ones.
A film is not a vehicle to accuse, or to relay a specific message. If we reduce a film to this, we lose all hope for cinema to ignite a richer conversation.
My grandfather had Alzheimer's. He would eat everything and anything that was around; then he wouldn't remember that he ate it and would demand to be fed again.
I particularly relate to the films of Mikio Naruse and Shinichi Kamoshita, a person whose work I watched very much as a child, a director of family dramas for television.
When I choose child actors, I chose them for their personalities. And then I work with their own vocabulary, so I'm not imposing text or dialogue on them: I'm just receiving.
My mother loved films! She adored Ingrid Bergman, Joan Fontaine, Vivien Leigh. We couldn't afford to go together to the cinema, but she was always watching their movies on TV.
It's definitely good to have a hit from time to time, though not too often. If you have a few hits in a row, people start to think every film you make will be a hit, which is a big mistake.
I watch 'Electronic Boy' faithfully every week - not because I like the show but because I'm interested in where the smartest T.V. producers and directors are going, what direction they are headed in.
Reflecting on the past, where the film industry became united with 'national interest' and 'national policy,' I tend to think that keeping a clear distance from government authority is the right thing to do.
My father did not have a lot of security in his life. He did odd jobs. He had a real struggle to make money. He lost a lot of time in his 20s, after the war, because he was sent to a forced-labour camp in Siberia.
The Japanese don't have a specific religion, but a spirituality. A cap, shoes, and a table have a spirituality. When you eat an apple, you don't say you eat it: you say, 'I am receiving it.' Kind of like you are thanking the food.