Hikari Mitsushima Shines as Her Film ‘Last Mile’ Becomes a Major Hit

Is “Last Mile” Mitsushima’s representative work!? 

The movie “Last Mile,” starring Hikari Mitsushima (38) and directed by Ayuko Tsukahara, was released on August 23 and recorded an audience of 468,000 and box office earnings of 639 million yen over the three-day weekend from August 30 to September 1. It topped the “Domestic Movie Ranking” (according to Kogyotsushinsha) for two consecutive weeks, with cumulative results already surpassing 1.52 million in audience and 2.15 billion yen in earnings. 

This work is a suspense film depicting the events of a series of bombings that occurred in the same world as the popular TBS dramas “Unnatural” (starring Satomi Ishihara, 37, in 2018) and “MIU404” (co-starring Go Ayano, 42, and Gen Hoshino, 43, in 2020), created by director Tsukahara and screenwriter Akiko Nogi reuniting.

Mitsushima plays the role of Elena Funato, the leader of a logistics center confronting the series of bombings. The film’s title refers to the logistics service from the final hub to the end user, taken from the term that signifies the last segment of delivery by logistics providers to customers.

“A socially conscious work that highlights events within the logistics warehouse of a major online shopping service and the realities of large transport companies handling that distribution. While it has a serious underlying theme, it also includes mystery elements surrounding the bombings, making it highly entertaining. Recently, there haven’t been many live-action Japanese films of this kind, and with the popularity of ‘Unnatural’ and ‘MIU404,’ it had a rocket start.

As of August, the highest-grossing live-action Japanese film of the year is the latest adaptation of the popular comic ‘Kingdom: The Return of the Great General,’ starring Kento Yamazaki (30), which has surpassed 7 billion yen. Although it may not reach those numbers, its strong audience turnout suggests that this will likely become Mitsushima’s representative work,” said a film industry reporter.

Speaking of Mitsushima, she originally worked under the name “HIKARI” in the music unit “Folder.” Her appearance as a child actor in the 1997 film “Mothra 2: Battle in the Depths” became the trigger for her aspiration to become an actress, as she later revealed in an interview.

By the way, “DAICHI,” who was in the same group, is the singer-songwriter Daichi Miura (37). The unit effectively disbanded in 2003 after changing its name to “Folder5.” After transitioning to acting, Mitsushima changed agencies and gained attention for her intense performance in the 2009 film “Love Exposure,” directed by Sion Sono, where she received rigorous acting coaching. This led to her shining in the spotlight, winning numerous film awards.

She would shout at the older male actors, “I can’t hear what you’re saying!”

After that, she continued to be active mainly in films such as “Hello from the Bottom of the River,” “Bad Man” (2010), and “The Incoherence” (2017). Following in her sister’s footsteps, her younger brother Shinnosuke Mitsushima (35) also entered the entertainment industry in 2009. There was even a time when they showed their deep sibling bond on stage under a prominent director.

“In January 2015, they both appeared in the play ‘Hamlet.’ Later, Shinnosuke revealed on a television program that the director of the play was Yukio Ninagawa, who passed away in 2016. During rehearsals, Shinnosuke accidentally yawned while Ninagawa was explaining something, and he reportedly had a chair thrown at him. Being new to the stage, Shinnosuke was rigorously trained by Ninagawa. However, since Hikari already had stage experience, she stayed behind after rehearsals to help train her brother, ultimately impressing Ninagawa.

Hikari has a strong heart and can confidently hold her own against veteran male actors. In Ninagawa’s productions, it was standard to project loudly during readings, but Hikari would voice complaints like, ‘Your voice is too loud!’ and ‘I can’t hear what you’re saying!’ She even gave various opinions to Ninagawa. Nevertheless, she was well-liked by her co-stars, likely due to her character,” said a theater reporter.

In her private life, Hikari Mitsushima married director Yuya Ishii in October 2010 after about a year of dating, but they divorced at the beginning of 2016 due to differences in their views on life and marriage. Following that, she was reported to be dating Kento Nagayama (35), with whom she co-starred in “The Life and Death by the Sea” (2017) in May of the same year, but it seems they broke up by the summer of the following year.

Even that big-name comedian praised her.

In March 2018, Hikari Mitsushima became independent from her agency, Humanite. Since then, she has been working as a freelancer, but there seems to be no shortage of offers.

“Her personality is generous, and she doesn’t have a pretentious side at all. She seems to have turned all her past hardships into strengths. Staff who have worked with her almost always want to work with her again, and she herself is full of ambition. If there’s a script that interests her, she seems ready to accept the offer even if the pay doesn’t match her expectations.

In recent years, she has been a regular guest on Fuji TV’s variety special ‘The Impersonations Too Subtle to Be Understood,’ and she laughs at every impersonation, which boosts the confidence of the participating comedians. Regular commentator Takaaki Ishibashi (62) from the comedy duo Tunnels has praised her character, saying, ‘Hikari-chan is wonderful.’ He continues to invite her as a guest. She can be considered a rare talent among skilled actresses,” said a television industry insider.

It’s likely that the offers to star in hit projects have come in thanks to her previous activities and her character.

 

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