Kei Ishikawa on writing & directing movie based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s A Pale View of Hills
Famed Japanese-British author Kazuo Ishiguro‘s novels have been adapted for the screen several times, from The Remains of the Day to Never Let Me Go and the upcoming Klara and the Sun.
For the latest movie adaptation, Japanese director Kei Ishikawa has adapted Ishiguro’s 1982 debut novel, A Pale View of Hills.
The film is set across two timelines, one in 1950s Nagasaki and the other in 1980s England. In the 1980s, Etsuko (Yō Yoshida) tells her daughter Niki (Camilla Aiko) about her life in Nagasaki in the aftermath of the 1945 atomic bomb. The story then flashes back and depicts a younger Etsuko (Suzu Hirose) as a bored housewife who develops a friendship with her neighbour Sachiko (Fumi Nikaido) and her daughter.
I recently hopped on Zoom to chat with Ishikawa about filming in Japan and England, casting his actresses and working with Ishiguro. Here’s that conversation (if you’re more of a video person, you can watch that below):
A Pale View of Hills, the book, was released in 1982 and you’ve been making films for years. Why did this adaptation happen now?
We started this project because last year was the 80-year memorial (of the bombing). Especially in Japan, there were many, many films produced regarding this area, this war memorial. This project was one of them… but for me, I always wanted to do the adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s book and then I finished my previous film, A Man, and it went to Venice and Kazuo-san was on one of the juries and this kind of coincidence really happened at the time and then I just thought, ‘OK, this is really the time to go for it.’
So did you and Kazuo have a meeting at Venice?
We wanted (to). Actually it was Covid times so it was really, really difficult to meet and Kazuo-san got the Covid in Venice and something happened. In the end, we met online. He was really, really helpful and actually, he suggested a lot of things. Of course, he was one of the executive producers. He didn’t say much (about) the script, but actually, he supported a lot and then he suggested so many good things for the script.
Was he involved after the script, like when you were filming or editing or anything like that?
I finished the script and then we had kind of a long script session with him and I also sent him the edit when we kind of locked the picture. But basically what he said is, ‘This is your film,’ you know, he made some suggestions but he never (made me) change anything.
That’s good. He wanted to give you the space to make your own movie.
Yeah, he always told me that when he wrote this book, he was 25 years old and it was his first book so don’t treat me as Nobel Prize(-winning) writer, that’s what he told me.
So what was it about the novel that made you want to adapt it into a film?
This topic is really, really important for us Japanese filmmakers, but at the same time, I think it’s the same for everywhere, but I always thought this topic was more for the older generations because we don’t really experience it. But at the same time, after 80 years after the war, now I think it’s kind of the last chance to really meet the people who really knew this time. I always wanted to do something with this topic but I didn’t know how to approach this and (then) I found this book, this book written in English. He wrote this far away from Japan, in England, and he tried to remember this Nagasaki. It has kind of a certain distance to the subject and it makes me feel OK, this could be more universal rather treating this directly. That’s how I thought. That was my motivation for this (movie).
What was the biggest challenge for you in taking the book and adapting it for the screen?
Of course, obviously, the biggest challenge is this Kazuo Ishiguro’s book (laughs). Everyone has read it and if I change anything, people (might complain). I feel like the adaptation of the book into film is like playing football in a different country. At the same time, Kazuo-san was really very supportive. In this sense, for me, it was the biggest challenge, but at the same time, it was the most exciting part and I really enjoyed it, so I don’t complain about anything.
The Nagasaki in your film looks stunning. There’s this sunny filter and a dream-like quality, which I’m assuming isn’t true to how it actually looked in the 1950s. So how did you come up with the vision for what it would look like?
We did a lot of research, we did a lot, but at the same time, it was difficult to find the documents on this era. There are many, many photos right after the atomic bomb and then after that, everything is in colour. Ten years after the war, this time is kind of a missing link. Of course, there are some photos but it was really difficult to find out. But at some point, we just realised, maybe this Nagasaki only exists in Kazuo-san’s mind. All the story is told by Etsuko so the important thing is not to recreate 1950s in Nagasaki precisely what it is but how she remembers. This perspective, somehow, we started to think, OK, it should be more colourful. It was kind of traumatic time for her but at the same time, when we remember our younger time, there are some vivid colours.
The two actresses that play Etsuko – Yo and Suzu – did they ever get to meet and work on the character together?
We planned to build the character together but they were super busy actresses (laughs). We didn’t really find enough time. We just had a small chat, basically, that was all. But fortunately, we could shoot all the Nagasaki part first and then before moving to the UK, I could edit the Nagasaki part. So I sent all the materials to Yo and was like, ‘OK, this is 30 years before your time, so try to imagine’, you know. Based on that, she built up older Etsuko’s character. Somehow it worked out.
I thought Suzu was brilliant. What was it about her that made her perfect for the 1950s version?
I didn’t try to insist (on) her to act like a woman in the ’50s. What I liked about her is she’s so natural. She’s a really contemplative woman. Everybody loves her and we can understand how she feels. I just wanted her to use this character so in this sense, I didn’t really ask her to do research a lot, but somehow I want her to breathe the air. The only thing I asked her was to run Nagasaki dialect and then she was perfect.
I also really liked Camilla as Niki and from what I’ve seen in interviews, it was quite hard to find Niki. What was that process like and how did you find Camilla?
We did a lot of auditions. We wanted to cast the mix – Japanese and the English. We already shot the Nagasaki part so we were just wondering if she had to look like Etsuko or Sachiko or Yo, you know? When we saw her, (we thought), ‘OK, she’s kind of a mixture of everyone.’ And it really made me feel confident. She has Sachiko’s element – very independent, strong. I really liked her a lot.
Did the production take a break between the Japanese set and the English set?
Yeah, it was only a month’s time or something.
How long was the shoot overall?
Nagasaki was almost a month’s time and then we had a month’s break, which meant preparation for the UK part, and then we shot for almost 10 days.
This is a really specific thing but I’ve always been curious about it. How do you go about creating the still photos we see in the film at the beginning?
It’s kind of a combination. We shot some of them on the set. This time, Nagasaki City really helped us a lot. There were some archives and we really did research and then we found them.
I saw on your IMDb that you’ve already got another movie in the works. Can you tell us any more about it?
I’m working more with a Polish team who worked on A Pale Views of Hills too. I studied filmmaking there so I have many friends. Let’s see.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
A Pale View of Hills is in U.K. cinemas from Friday 13th March