Hah, another report already? This has little to do with J-Rock, but I feel like posting here anyway since a few of my readers are probably DEATH NOTE fans. This report will be spoiler-free. So, it's safe to read even if you don't know anything about the DEATH NOTE plot developments, be it the manga version, anime version, or movie version.
The New York premiere of DEATH NOTE I and II took place in Japan Society on Sunday, July 8, as part of the 2-week-long New York Asian Film Festival. The tickets to the event were sold out completely and the movies drew a pretty diverse crowd. The audience ranged from fresh-faced 15-year-old high schoolers, to hip 20-something-year-old girls, to smelly 40-year-old otakus (I had to sit behind two of them), to frail 70-year-old grandmas (I'm not kidding!). I honestly don't know why the old lady was interested in the event, maybe she was just bored and had nothing better to do?
The movies were kicked off by director Kaneko Shusuke giving a brief introduction. When I say brief, I do mean BRIEF. He came onto the stage to the cheer of the audience, said a total of 2 sentences in English along the lines of "Thank you for coming. I hope you enjoy the movie." He sounded rather nervous and stuttered a bit. But, points to him for effort! Right after that, he bowed and left. I stared after him and thought, "Huh, he gets right to the point." He didn't waste any (of the audience's) time, that's for sure.
So, the 2 movies were shown. I won't get into any details about that since everyone knows what watching movies are like. Though, I only have a tiny rant:
If you're tall, PLEASE DON'T sit all the way in the front and block everyone else's view! Bloody hell, my neck hurt from straining to see over the tall guy's head.
/end rant
I've never read the DEATH NOTE manga or seen the anime. According to my friends who went with me, the movies deviated a lot from the original manga. I, pesonally, was rather pleased by the ending. It was appropriate and concluded satisfactorily. However, I thought that the plot may have relied too much on L's genius.
L: *says something no one could possibly have known*
Me: "How in the freaking world could L have known that?! He wasn't even given the clues to reach that conclusion."
Friend: "Because he's L. He knows everything."
Me: *huffs* "That's not convincing!"
There were a number of plot holes that just didn't make sense. For someone who doesn't know the story, I had to make several leaps of faith and just pretended the plot flowed so I could move on. But honestly, that's a sucky way to follow a story.
Anyway, Kaneko returned to the stage for the Q&A and was joined by Norman England (thanks Norman, and sorry I forgot your last name before), personal friend of Kaneko and played one of the FBI agents in the first movie. The two of them sat in the center, while the interpreter and the moderator sat on the sides. I'm going to summarize whatever I remember from the Q&A below. I don't guarantee the accuracy of the answers (or questions, for that matter) since my memory's no where near perfect. The answers were often given by both Kaneko and Norman.
Why did the movies use Red Hot Chili Pepper's works as theme songs?
Red Hot Chili Pepper's bassist, Flea, loves manga. We sent the DEATH NOTE manga to him and he liked it so much that he told us we can use the band's songs.
What was it like directing the 2 movies?
I operated under a high-pressured time crunch. I had to make the 2 movies back-to-back without ever taking a break. I started the 1st movie in February, and it's already been decided that it will open in theaters in June. For the 2nd movie, it was to open in November. By the time I began on the 2nd movie, the script had already been written and it was one-and-a-half months before filming. I looked over the script but didn't like it. So, I had to re-write the script from scratch and was able to miraculously finish it in time for filming.
Norman: Whenever I visited the DEATH NOTE movie sets, I thought the best thing was the massive amount of candies spread everywhere. They even got candies not found in Japan like Tootsie Pops. The staff was gracious enough to allow me to steal some from the set. But actually, the Japanese staff were so serious about their work that no one took the candies, except me.
What were DEATH NOTE manga fans' reactions to the movies?
We had gotten mixed views. Overall, more people liked the 2nd movie for its ending. Most fans agreed that in the original manga, the plot had lost much of its momentum after the loss of a certain character. I decided not to follow the manga exactly to ensure good movie pacing and story-telling. I took liberties with certain details and molded the story in my own fashion. The fans generally had a positive reaction toward that.
I heard that there's going to be a new DEATH NOTE movie. Can you tell us more?
Yes, this movie will be a DEATH NOTE spinoff that goes into L's backstory. It tells what happened to L before the events of DEATH NOTE I and II took place. The movie will be directed by Nakata Hideo, who directed The Ring movies. He's my senior/junior (sempai/kouhai, I don't remember which!).
The actor of L got really popular because of the movies. Can you tell us more about him?
Yes, Matsuyama Kenichi has become one of the top young actors in Japan. When we began filming the 1st movie, I remember him being really nervous on the set. But once the 1st movie was released and gained enormous success, Kenichi became more confident of himself.
*Kaneko facepalmed at this question* If I get to create my own story and universe, then yes, I'll direct more. However, kaiju nowadays only appeal to a niche market, even in Japan. Kaiju movies therefore are based on established franchises to guarantee a certain level of revenue. Because the copyrights of these franchises are held by large media corporations, only they get to decide whether there will be new movies made and who gets to direct them.
Okay, those are about 1/3 of the total number of questions asked. I only remember the ones that stuck out to me. Sorry! And the only reason that I remember the kaiju question was because of Mr. Volt, since he expressed his admiration for Kaneko for his kaiju movies on a previous post. When I heard the question, I thought to myself, "Ah, Mr. Volt would probably be interested." So, I actually paid attention to Kaneko's answer. :D
So, the Q&A lasted around 45 minutes and the signing followed immediately after. I handed him my program for the Asian Film Festival and he signed the DEATH NOTE pages, right on his own biography. Hah, and I actually remembered enough Japanese to ask him if it's okay for me to take a picture with him. Yay for that~!
And that ended my Sunday at the New York premiere of DEATH NOTE movies. ^_^
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