Junji Sakamoto burst onto Japan's indie film scene in 1989 with his feature debut Knockout. Thirteen years later, he tells us what it's like to tackle larger-scale epic films like the yakuza flick Another Battle (his latest film being the Berlin-screened political thriller KT), and be a "veteran action film director" in the Japanese film world.

When did you know for sure that you wanted to become a filmmaker?

When I was a kid, I loved making things, creating things. My grandpa made buddhist sculptures, and I thought watching him that I would love to create things as well in the future. I thought: 'It doesn't matter what it will be, as a grown-up, I would like to make something, whatever'. And as a kid, I started making home 8 mm films, films with my friends, and that was my first experience as a kind of cameraman. And at that time, I thought that I would like to make movies in the future.

Did you make short films before your debut feature film Knockout?

Yes, when I was working as assistant director, I got a small budget and I made a 25' 16 mm short.

What kind of experience was that?

When I had been working as an assistant director, I didn't really know the work of a director. And even though I only made a short film, I got the experience, I got to know the work of a director. And I found out it's totally different... When I was working as an assistant director, we were always complaining about the director while drinking, but when I became a director, the assistant director was always complaining about me while drinking! (Laughs)

Do you think you've learnt a lot from directors or do you consider you've learnt more by yourself?

I saw a lot of movies and I think I got a lot of influence from other directors and other movies, but when I became a director myself, I set out to find my own style, my own way. I can't say I was deeply influenced by other directors - like, say, Akira Kurosawa. I wanted to find my own style.

Obviously, you do not belong to the Akira Kurosawa generation, but instead to that of another Kurosawa, Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Do you think you've found your own style in this generation and what would it be?

I want to make movies drawing on my own feelings. If you copy someone, then of course you can't have your own style. When I began making films, the communication with the staff was not very good, so some movies did not end up like my own. But after making a few movies, the communication got better and then my own style came out. It was only when I was able to put through to other people how the movie should be like that I got to come up with own style.

Knockout is your debut feature film. Was it a film in which you wanted to express your own style very much, into which you wanted to put everything you had inside?

What I think is that - apart from the fact that the acting turned out different from what I expected - the violence which I had in mind was shown in this movie. So if you watch the movie from the point of view of the violence, it shows up.

Did you feel it was difficult to exist as a filmmaker in the 80's/early 90's market, with the video market booming and so on? In that respect, was it difficult to market Knockout?

In the beginning, of course, no one knew me nor expected anything from me. But my first film became a hit and we sold a lot of videos. I couldn't get rich out of it - I have never become rich with my movies - but for my second and third film, it was easier to get money because my first one was a hit. So actually, I could continue making films thanks to my first film.

Movie-making is also about story-telling, good scripts. Where do you draw inspiration for your films? Do you prefer to create personal stories or to adapt existing material?

When I begin writing a script, I start with my own feelings, that's why most of my movies are based on personal experiences. I'm thinking of my childhood, my past. So most of the time, my scripts are based on personal experiences and memories. It's not that this personal experience is put straight into the movie, but I use my personal experience as a hint while writing a script.

What does a film like Biriken, a fantasy fable, represent for you in your filmography? And is it true that the main actor spent one night with the statue of Biriken to prepare for the role?

Biriken is like a fable, it has nothing to do with myself. I just wanted people to enjoy the movie, the story. Biriken is like a god which you can go to and ask something. Whatever bad person you may be, he will do his best to make things come true. So he's not like a god who treats good people in a good way and bad people in a bad way. It's like a god sleeping on the streets, (in English) a homeless god! (Laughs) Concerning the actor, it's true! (Laughs) He slept in a hotel together with a scultpure of Biriken, which is a replica of the actual Biriken statue.

Why did you choose famous stage actress Naomi Fujiyama for Kao (Face) ?

I am really fond of her technique and talent as a comedic actress. Her use of pause is beyond comparison and makes her a fabulous all-rounder in the field of acting. But despite her talent, she has not acted in many films. This is more or less her first film experience. She had played a few small roles when she was still very young. I wanted to bring freshness to the film by using her specific talents. She knows how to make us enjoy what's happening in the film. Yet, in her private life, she is a rather reserved and shy person. This contrast really struck me and I thought it would be very interesting to make a film with her.

Kao takes us far from Tokyo to the deep south of Japan. Do you think most Japanese films are too city-based?

I've never really cared to use my films to depict Tokyo. There are a few scenes shot in Tokyo at the beginning of the film, but I don't show you skyscrapers nor the typical urban aspects of Tokyo. I was more interested in conveying a "neighborhood" feel. And to tell this story, I wanted to get out of Tokyo, and make the audience embark on a journey both real and imaginary.

You've never really been interested in promoting your films at festivals. What did your selection in the official competition of San Sebastian represent for you?

Well, it's hardly possible to take part in festivals when your films are not selected! (Laughs) But it's true that I never really wished to take part in festivals, whereas it has become customary now in Japan to make a film, present it at a festival, and then capitalize on the publicity made around it to turn it into a commercial success. My films, though, are not targeted at foreign audiences, and I don't necessarily see festival competition as a natural way of meeting a foreign audience. Yet, Face is competing at San Sebastian because the directors of the festival saw the film in a screening of the Cannes Market. And they liked my film and selected it. It happened very naturally so I have to say I'm really delighted to be here.

All in all, how do you reflect on your evolution between your debut and now? What changes have you gone through since that time?

My evolution has been very slow... My failures and errors have been condoned ... I see myself as a director of action films, neither young nor old, not a veteran either... The directors of the generation prior to mine belonged to the big studios, they became directors through apprenticeship; the present generation of independent directors do not come from the big studios and often do not study filmmaking anymore before tackling direction. I stand somewhere in-between these two generations.

Since your films often deal with a kind of latent violence, did you have a very rumbustious adolescence, or was it rather peaceful?

As a teen, there was a lot of violence in my life. I often got mad and angry, but I tried not to resort to violence. Maybe I would have liked to be a person who could express his violence when getting angry, but I just piled it up... So maybe filmmaking is a way of blow off steam out, exhausting all the stress that keeps piling up! (Laughs)

There is also a lot of anger and brooding violence in the world of the yakuza. Was it an element that attracted you to Another Battle? The way the yakuza try to deal with their inner violence?

I was not actually planning to use or study violence in that film. Don't get me wrong, I don't like the yakuza. It's a movie to show that I don't like the yakuza. I think the yakuza are cheap people, cheap groups of people. My plan was to have the audience feel like they didn't want to be like yakuza people!

Kinji Fukasaku had a quite critical approach to yakuza people, by not showing them as positive role models, but rather as tragic, wretched souls caught in endless killing rows. Do you like his films, to which Another Battle is related through the promotion?

The yakuza which Kinji Fukasaku shows in his movies are the yakuza after WWII. At that time, Japanese people were quite shocked that they had actually lost the war. There were a lot of people who didn't know what to do, how to behave, and lots of them became yakuza. But the yakuza I show in Another Battle are the yakuza from now, so they don't have this shock after WWII. I just see them as a cheap group of people. They're not pitiful in my movie, unlike the yakuza in Kinji Fukasaku's movies who didn't know what to do after losing WWII. So that's a difference. Yet, I like the way Kinji Fukasaku shows the post-WWII yakuza in his movies. But there aren't any yakuza like that anymore!

Since your film describes present day yakuza, was it based on any research? Kinji Fukasaku used to do some research himself for his films...

Well, Fukasaku's could use a lot of real models. He just changed names and made them appear in his movies! But in my movie, they're all fake yakuza, they don't exist for real! The yakuza after WWII wouldn't even care about getting killed, they did everything for the boss. But this kind of yakuza doesn't exist anymore. In my movie, they're just cheap people with bad ways of life. They're not heroes - whereas you could say of Fukasaku's yakuza that they were still kind of heroes.

Juzo Itami made the very striking movie Minbo no Onna (Anti-extortion Woman), mocking the yakuza and also showing how they had a hand in every part of society. Then the real yakuza mugged and knifed Juzo Itami. How did you react to that at the time?

Of course, I know about the incident. I think that's because Juzo Itami looked at the yakuza from the side of the police and showed that he didn't like the yakuza. I think that's why he was knifed. I also show that I don't like the yakuza, but not from the side of the police.

Does this mean you have no fear of aggression?

No, I don't fear any attack. Right now, the yakuza are very busy looking for money, because they haven't earned a lot of money lately! (Laughs)

What seemed to me surprising is that you should do such a male-oriented film as Another Battle after such a female-oriented film as Kao (Face)!

Speaking very frankly, within the same Toei studio that produced Another Battle, there is an ongoing series called 'Wives of the Yakuza', which is all about women in the Yakuza world, and I wanted to clearly delineate my film from the women in this series, so from the screenplay onward, we deliberately eliminated the women! (Laughs)

Robin Gatto