New York Asian Film Foundation and Festival at Lincoln Center revealed their lineup for the 22nd New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF). They selected the drama film December (2022), which discussed a complicated legal issue.
In the movie, Sumiko and Katsu divorced after their daughter’s murder. Despite this, they must reunite to fight against the murderer’s release. The film had themes of crime and justice. The film had a talented production team.
Anshul Chauhan directed the motion picture. Chauhan co-wrote the screenplay with Rand Colter and Mina Moteki. Executive producers included Simon Crowe and Fumie Suzuki Lancaster. Ke Maeda, Shinichi Okada, and Shigemi Sawa served as associate producers. Yuma Koda selected the music, while Petter Moen Jensen designed the cinematography. The movie had a skilled cast.
Shogen starred as Katsu, while Ryô Matsuura excelled in the role of Kana Fukanda. Miki Maya, Megumi, and Takashi shined in their roles as well. To learn more about the film, read the interview transcript with Anshul Chauhan and Shogen below.
The Knockturnal: So, how did the production team choose who to cast in this film?
Anshul Chauhan: For the role of Katsu, which Shogen played, I’ve known him for a long time. After I released my first film, I met him around that time. Since then, we are friends. I had this script for a long time. I planned to make the film in 2021. I sent Shogen the script’s first draft. I knew that I wanted to cast him for that role.
For the role of Kana Fakunda, the girl in the prison, I met the actress during one of my second film screenings. She came to watch the film. When I greeted people outside, I met her. I remember she had a very strong face. When I was casting the character, I remembered her even though I auditioned, like, ten girls. She was mainly a model. I auditioned her two, three times to make sure she was right for the part.
For the role of the ex-wife, we approached the actress and I auditioned her. I sat and talked with her. I recorded my conversations with her. That’s how we got that actress on board. She suggested her real-life husband, Singo Fujimori, who is a famous Japanese comedian. I wanted to somehow cast a comedian in a serious role. I went to meet him, but I didn’t know that he had already read the script. After five minutes, he said ‘Yes.’
The roles of the lawyer and prosecutor are past collaborators from my previous film. Also, I cast them because they already had done television shows about courtrooms. They had done a lot of episodes, so I thought it would be helpful to get them on board. We involved them in delegating the film’s court sessions. That’s how we got the cast together.
The Knockturnal: Okay, that’s great. At the movie’s beginning, we see a postal worker on a motorcycle. How did you film that scene?
Anshul Chauhan: The guy on the motorcycle was our casting director. First of all, we had issues finding the kind of motorcycle that we wanted to use. It took us some time to finally get the motorcycle from Tokyo. A guy delivered a motorcycle on a tow truck, which we call a “rekkāsha” in Japan. He got the motorcycle to the location. At first, it did not work, but, somehow, we made it work. I bought this postal worker costume online and had the casting director put it on.
It was very difficult to shoot. People were joking and laughing. The producer, cameraman, and I went into a car. We followed the postal worker and I drove the car. It took all day to get the scene out.
The Knockturnal: My next question involves the scene at the diner. Sumiko and Katsu couldn’t speak at her house. Instead, they spoke at the diner. In the scene, neither character was in the frame’s center. Instead, they sat in a booth on the right-hand side. Why did you make that choice?
Anshul Chauhan: I made this decision because I wanted to show them in the same frame. I wanted that because they have been separated for a long time. I wanted to audience to get this in their head. If I were to show them together, it would have shown that they were close. I wanted to show the distance between the characters, which took place over so many years. That’s why I never showed them together.
As the frames progressed, the audience saw the characters coming together. In the last scene, the viewers saw both of them together.
The Knockturnal: How did the production team select Kana Fukanda’s costume?
Anshul Chauhan: Picking her costume was not hard. In Japan, prisoners wear second-hand clothing. The people donate it to the prison. They are not allowed to wear any fancy stuff. The prisoners wear blue uniforms. I watched documentaries and took pictures of the outfits. From there, I found a company in Okinawa that makes those outfits. I ordered their product.
For the lawyers, they just wear normal suits.
The Knockturnal: There seems to be a reoccurring theme of blue throughout the film, especially in the scenery and the characters’ outfits. This seems to relate to the legal system as well, with the prisoners wearing blue. Was this done on purpose?
Anshul Chauhan: The color grading was done with a bluish tint. It makes the mood a bit colder. We picked blue for Satou San’s suit as well.
The Knockturnal: When Satou San takes the stand in court, he says ‘Is it right to ruin two lives to satisfy this misplaced sense of justice?’ It really struck me. Do you think that the film revolves around this statement and, if so, how?
Anshul Chauhan: For any kind of court case, there are two sides to it. If Kana doesn’t get out of prison, her life will be destroyed. She lost her family and everything. According to Japan’s legal system, she was not supposed to be in prison after turning eighteen years old. She’s supposed to be out. However, the characters have a big bias against her. In reality, in Japan, it’s only happened twice that a minor has gotten, like, twenty years in prison. The film is inspired by those events. We wanted to explore the themes of crime, punishment, and revenge. I hope that people get that, by the end of the film, Kana feels guilty and ready to confess what happened.
The Knockturnal: My next question is for you, Shogen. How did you prepare for the role of Katsu?
Shogen: There are tons of stuff that I have to prepare for this part. First of all, I need to make a relationship with the actresses playing my ex-wife and daughter. Before the movie production began, we hung out at a park together. We took a family picture and had conversations together. After that, especially with the actress playing my ex-wife, we contacted each other to talk about memorable events, like how our characters would have met. We talked about our characters’ histories and the details. That’s very important to the film because we didn’t have much time.
Anshul Chauhan: We started in September 2021. For three months, we scouted and cast people. Then, in January, everyone got COVID. We pushed back the shoots and then we started production. So, yeah, short time.
Shogen: We didn’t have much time at all, which didn’t help. The production team helped me make a music playlist to express my character’s emotions, like depression. That helped a lot. I had Katsu’s clothes and wore them to the shoot. I carried a flask of whiskey in my pocket. I just lived as Katsu.
The Knockturnal: What growth did you see in Katsu’s character?
Shogen: For example, when he’s drinking, he’s making some decisions in your head. He’s thinking ‘Okay, maybe I’ll confess tomorrow,” and he has a lot of anger. First of all, I created the character because I didn’t know about that mental state. Some people in Japan open their beers on the train. They can’t wait until they get back home to drink. They just want to drink right then. I didn’t understand why they can’t wait or what they are feeling. I haven’t felt that way. When I built the character, I started to understand.
Anshul Chauhan: From the writing perspective, alcohol supported his decision-making. He’s a lonely, depressed alcoholic person who drinks a lot. He found comfort in drinking. When he got really drunk and slept, maybe he found some kind of peace. When Sumiko got put back in his life, he hoped to get back together with her. He made the decision to put everything down and maybe change his life because of this. In the end, he stopped drinking and cleaned up his house. For a while, the alcohol supported him.
Shogen: I think it’s not only the alcohol. Throughout the film’s production, I was thinking, ‘If my daughter was here, what would she think about me?’ That’s why he tried to change his life. He wanted to quit alcohol. Maybe my character would start drinking.
Anshul Chauhan: Yeah. Your character said, ‘I want to become a man that my daughter would want to see.’
The Knockturnal: Okay. Your character wears many neutral colors and long-sleeved clothes. What does this communicate about your character to the viewers?
Anshul Chauhan: The film was shot during the winter season. Everyone was wearing neutral colors anyway. In flashbacks, Katsu wore summer tones just to show the separation. We were supposed to shoot in the snow, but it didn’t happen. Anyways, the colors were supposed to show his depression. His daughter got killed and then he’s living in the depression. In the whole film, we wore beige and green colors to show his character. In the last scene, spring comes after some time. Katsu is wearing a light blue color because of this. His hair is well-combed and all that. It’s really just to show what’s going on in Katsu’s head.
The Knockturnal: Could you talk about the scene where Sumiko testified in court?
Anshul Chauhan: We shot the scene as a single take. We zoomed in on Sumiko, which showed that Satou is finally in her head. He was trying to break her down. He put a lot of pressure on her. Also, he came out of his booth and started walking around, which put even more pressure on her. That’s what Satou was doing because he was a smart lawyer. He was successful. Mentally, Sumiko supported Katsu just because she likes him. Her thinking was not the same as his. He had a lot of anger, which she didn’t have. She realized that maybe she did a bit too much to support him. They had a fight after this scene.
The Knockturnal: Katsu calls Satou San on the phone. The pair meet at the bar and have a conversation. After Satou San leaves the bar, Katsu drinks a lot. Intense music swells in the background. He goes back to his dim apartment and hears his daughter saying “Papa” over and over. Can you talk about this scene?
Anshul Chauhan: That was actually added towards the end. Katsu was drunk, so maybe he was hallucinating, which caused him to see his daughter. We had two versions of it: not to shoot with her or to shoot with her. We ended up shooting with her.
Shogen: It happens in real life too. My grandma came to me in a dream. After you see someone in a dream, you feel empty.
Anshul Chauhan: You were in the character at that time.
Anshul Chauhan: But yeah, I had an incident similar to that. My grandfather passed away before I was born. I never met him. One day, it almost felt like he was sitting with me. Even though I was a grown man, I ran to my mother because I was so scared. It wasn’t hard for me to put that in the film.
The Knockturnal: I don’t have any other questions. Thank you so much!
