Former SMAP member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi’s “Midnight Swan” No.1 in Netflix and Gaining Attention Once Again!
The movie “Midnight Swan,” starring former SMAP member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, became available on Netflix on May 2. Released in September 2008, the film won the Best Picture Award at the 44th Japan Academy Awards the following year, and Kusanagi himself received the Best Leading Actor Award.
The film had received a string of rave reviews since that time, but once again, the number of comments on the Internet praising Kusanagi’s performance and the film highly increased. One of the current Johnny’s also seemed to have watched “Midnight Swan” at this time.
In this film, Kusanagi takes on the role of a transgender (a person whose gender identity differs from his or her physical sex at birth) for the first time. The story is about Nagisa (Kusanagi), who has conflicts between her body and her mind, and awakens to motherhood when she lives together with Kazuka (Hattori Jyusaki), a girl abandoned by her mother. When the film was released, it was a long-running hit, attracting attention for the physical acting and storyline of Kusanagi and the other cast members.
Then, on May 2 of this year, distribution began on Netflix. According to an article on the movie website Cinema Today (dated May 11), it ranked No. 1 in Netflix’s Japanese Top 10 (movie category, from the 1st to the 7th of the same month). Also on the 18th, the official Twitter of “Midnight Swan” posted the following message: “Thank you for ranking No. 1 in the Netflix Japanese Movie Weekly Top 10 from May 8 to 14! We are so happy to be #1 for the second week in a row!” (original text in Japanese, same as below).
In fact, the Netflix effect was tremendous, with Twitter users also reporting , “I watched “Midnight Swan” starring Kusanagi-kun on Netflix and it was very good. Kusanagi-kun is amazing! I didn’t think I would be so attracted to it.” “I watched ‘Midnight Swan’ on Netflix. It’s a very good film and Kusanagi’s acting was great.” “I watched “Midnight Swan” on Netflix and I can’t stop crying. Tsuyoshi’s acting gave me goosebumps.” Various comments were received.
In the meantime, Kaito Nakamura, a member of Travis Japan, a seven-member group from Johnny’s, hinted about “Midnight Swan” on his blog on Johnny’s web, a members-only website.
Nakamura wrote on his blog on January 9, “I saw a movie about transgender people that won the Japan Academy Prize for Best Picture. Although he did not mention the name of the film or Kusanagi’s name, he provided a clear hint.
He said that the characters seemed to really live in that world, and praised the lead actor’s performance, saying, “I was really drawn in by the lead actor’s performance,” and “I wish I could have made it that far.
Nakamura’s love of SMAP is well known among his fans, so he asked, “I wonder if the movie Umi-kun saw was ‘Midnight Swan.'” ‘The movie is “Midnight Swan,” right? I’m curious about this movie, so I’ll watch it! (idol magazine writer).
Kusanagi left Johnny’s in September 2005, but Nakamura must have been impressed by “Midnight Swan,” which can be said to be a representative work of his “senpai” (senior). Speaking of Kusanagi, it was recently announced that he will star in the drama “Deaf Voices: Sign Language Interpreter in Court” (to be broadcast this winter on NHK General and BS4K). He is also set to star in the movie “Goban Zanri,” which will be released next year, and is in the groove as an actor.
Perhaps the presence of someone like Kusanagi, who has continued to make great strides even after leaving Johnny’s, serves as a good role model for his younger colleagues.
