Suzu Hirose in Overcoming her Crisis in the Film “Wandering Moon”
The movie “Wandering Moon” was released on May 13. The film has been receiving rave reviews and is set to be released in Korea this fall, attracting even greater attention.
“This film is an adaptation of Yuu Nagira’s novel of the same title, which won the Honya Taisho Award in 2020 and was the number one bestseller of the year, directed by Sang-il Lee, known for “Hula Girls,” “Bad People,” and “Rage”.
The film is also the talk of the town, with Hong Kyung-pyo, director of cinematography for “Parasite: Family Under the Half-terrace” (Parasite), which won the Cannes Film Festival and Academy Award. There are already calls that the film will sweep all the film awards this year.”
In this film, Sarasa (Suzu Hirose), who became a “victim” of a kidnapping incident when she was 10 years old, and Fumi (Momori Matsuzaka), a 19-year-old university student who was considered a “perpetrator,” are reunited 15 years later. This is a sad story of more than love between two special people who had no choice but to step outside of the norm. From the opening scene of the film, which depicts their meeting in a striking manner, the film grabs the hearts of the viewers and does not let go.
Director Pong Joon-ho, who directed “Parasite,” said after watching the film, “Everyone will feel it when they see the first scene, how vividly and sharply the film tries to cut into the vulnerable inner life of human beings.”
Director Lee himself expressed his passion for the film, saying, “In this film, I want to create something that cannot be expressed in words,” and “I want to deliver something difficult to understand, but something important for sure.
Director Pong Joon-ho also spoke highly of Suzu Hirose’s performance.
He praised her performance, saying, “Her deepened acting is just as brilliant as her deepened gaze.”
He is generous with his praise. However, Hirose says that she could not hide her confusion when she was offered the role in the film.
Looking back at herself at the time, she said, “I couldn’t feel any emotion,” and “I memorized the lines so the words came out like a machine,” and “I felt really uncomfortable. Hirose confesses that this state continued for two to three years.”
Is it a burnout syndrome caused by an overcrowded schedule? Or was it because she had been working since she was 14 years old and had “overwhelmingly little life experience,” as Hirose herself put it? Either way, there is no doubt that Hirose was on the precipice as an actress at that time.
Hirose confided such concerns to director Lee. Director Lee, who said, “That’s not good enough,” was unable to give her precise advice on what to do.
Come to think of it, director Lee and Hirose first worked together on the film “Rage,” released in 2016. Hirose won the role of Izumi Komiyama, who moved to a remote island in Okinawa with her mother, through an audition. She described her feelings at the time.
“It was a role I had never played before, and one I really wanted to play,” she said.
She really wanted to play this role. The role of Izumi, however, is not a role that can be played with ordinary determination. Hirose boldly took on the shocking scene in which she is raped by an American soldier. Looking back on that time, she said
“I was driven to the point where I thought I might as well die,” she said.
In “Sunday no Hatsumimi Gaku” (TBS), she commented, “I was driven to the point where I thought I might as well die.” Director Lee commented on Hirose’s performance, saying, “She excelled in the role.”
“What she excels in is her passion. The strength of her soul and the energy that radiates from her being are things that no one else has.”
She is a very strong person, and her energy is something that no one else can match. That is why his surprise was immeasurable when Hirose confided in him that she was having trouble feeling emotion.
Director Lee told Hirose, “You can’t understand anything if you think about it in your head,” and then, in order to grasp the “15 years until reunion,” he traveled with her to the park where she met Bun, Bun’s apartment, and the orphanage where Bun was placed after the incident, and waited for Hirose’s emotions to well up from within her.
The scene that emerged was the first time Hirose exchanged words with Fumi at Cafe Calico. Hirose describes the scene as follows.
“Emotions came bubbling up all at once from the bottom of my body. It was as if something that had been solidified melted away with the heat.”
Reflecting on this scene, Tori Matsuzaka, who plays Fumi, said
He trusts the actors and waits for them until he finds the answer. That’s why I was able to walk through the scene groping with peace of mind,” he said.
He also expressed his trust in Director Lee.
The “crisis” that befalls young actors who are extremely busy. Suzu Hirose is not the first to experience this feeling. Actor Masaki Sugata has also stood on the same precipice.
In 2017, he appeared in four films, “Kiseki-Anohi no Sobito,” “Teiichi no Kuni,” “Ah, Wilderness,” and “Spark,” for which he won the Japan Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Sugata has reached the pinnacle of his career as an actor. On the other hand, however, he was faced with an unexpected pinch when it came to living the role.
“When you play a role, you have to make it convincing that you have spent many years outside of what is portrayed in the movie or drama, in other words, you have to make it realistic. Sugata said that he spent years thinking about the role every day and gradually became unsure of his own identity.”
(A director of a production company) “He fell into the trap of playing several roles. After realizing that he would break down if he only worked as an actor, Sugata made his debut as a solo artist in June 2017. By expressing himself as an artist, he has succeeded in regaining himself.”
Suzu Hirose is facing a crisis as an actress. It may be a kind of fate that the chosen one must bear.
Written by： Ukon Shima (Broadcaster and video producer)
He is involved in program production in a wide range of genres, including variety, news, and sports programs. He has also planned and published many books on female TV announcers, idols, and the TV industry. While working on documentary programs, he became interested in history and recently published "Ieyasu was dead in Sekigahara" (Takeshobo Shinsho).
PHOTO： Yusuke Kondo
