How Aina the End, star of Shunji Iwai’s film “Kirie’s Song,” became “one and the same” with Kirie.

The movie “The Songs of Kirie” starring Aina the End opened in theaters on October 13, and despite being a blockbuster film lasting three hours, the audience after watching it said, “It was just a moment.

It was just a moment.
The film was a three-hour epic, but after watching it, the audience commented on social networking sites, “It was like a moment.

The film was released on October 13, 2011, and comments such as “It was just a moment,” and “178 minutes, that’s a lie.

The film tells the sad and magnificent story of Roka, a young girl who lost her family and her words in the Great East Japan Earthquake, who becomes a street musician under the name of her late sister Kyrie and lives her life at the mercy of fate. Director Iwai Shunji’s beautifully rendered film, full of irreplaceable words and music, is said to have moved an increasing number of repeat viewers, who return to the movie theaters again and again.

Iwai first heard Aina’s voice in a Pocari Sweat commercial, then at a BiSH live performance, and then after listening to her solo album “THE END,” he was struck by her voice and the project for this film was born. If I had not met her, this project would not have been born” (producer, production company).

Aina herself said of Iwai’s works such as “PiCNiC” and “Swallowtail

I am so happy to be able to jump into the visual works created by Mr. Iwai,” Aina said.

I’m really happy to be able to jump into the films that Mr. Iwai makes,” she said.

Aina the End had no experience in serious acting. Moreover, Iwai’s direction allows the actress to improvise for 15 minutes after she finishes her lines. About this unique direction

I enjoyed it very much, as if I was dancing contemporary dance,” she says.

I enjoyed it very much,” he said.

However, as a successful artist, the environment surrounding her was very tough and hard.

February ’22. The film was cranked from a scene in the snow with Suzu Hirose in Obihiro, Hokkaido. But at that time, Aina’s group BiSH was in the middle of a tour.

In the summer, the Broadway musical “Janis,” in which she plays Janis Joplin, was coming up. To accept an offer for this production in such a situation was reckless, to say the least. It is also true that his feelings for Iwai’s work were that strong.

(A source from a wide-show news outlet) Under such circumstances, the film’s progress has been slow and steady. Although the film was cranked, the script was not yet completed, and while filming was halted for “Janis,” preparations for the script and casting were underway, making the situation a tightrope walk indeed.

The film was initially about two people, Kirie (Roka) and Ikko (played by Suzu Hirose), but they were lost in the Great East Japan Earthquake. However, when Natsuhiko (Hokuto Matsumura), the boyfriend of her older sister Nozomi (played by Kirie Aina), who was lost in the Great East Japan Earthquake, appeared in the film, a part was created in which the young Roka, who had lost her family, travels. The story has been reborn as a tale of four people, with Kazami (Kuroki Hana), the teacher who worries about Roka, also playing a major role.

The script, as well as the direction, was full of ad-libs. It is almost a miracle that such a splendid cast was able to come together despite the last-minute schedule. Once again, you can see the high expectations for Iwai’s work in the film industry.

The film resumed shooting in the fall of 2010. However, Aina found herself in a difficult situation when she came forward to “write her own music” for the song sung by Kirie in the film.

Aina also participated in online interviews with the victims and earnestly worked on the songwriting, but in ’22, BiSH was at its peak, appearing in the “NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen. In order to write songs for this album late at night, she sleeps only 2 hours or so every day.

Aina felt she was at her limit and called the president of her office to say, ‘I can’t do this anymore.

(A director of the production company) “Thus, a total of six songs were written for the play, all of which were completed with a desire to make Aina puke blood. All of them are great songs that are close to Kirie’s feelings. But why did Aina become so absorbed in this work?

At the time, BiSH had decided to disband after their Tokyo Dome concert in June 2011. Did the thought of the group disbanding at the peak of its popularity make her passionate? Aina herself recalls the time, “The more I missed them, the more I wanted to write songs,” says the aforementioned director.

But was her obsession with music caused solely by her loneliness over the “BiSH breakup”?

I don’t think so. Kyrie is Aina’s alter ego. Or, you could say that they are one and the same.

She fitted her thoughts and feelings from that time into her current mind like pieces of a puzzle. It seems to me that this is the true reason why she became so absorbed in the songs in the play.

The song sung by the girl who lost her family and words in the Great East Japan Earthquake is truly a requiem song. The song “Sayonara” by Off Course, which she sang on the snowfield in Obihiro on the day of the crank-in, is now spreading not only in Japan but also across the sea. I wonder if it has already reached you.