First-day screening of movie "Ieji"

The first-day screening event of movie "Ieji" was held at Shinjuku Picadilly on 1 March which was attended by the cast Matsuyama Kenichi, Tanaka Yuko, Uchino Masaaki, Ando Sakura and the director Kubota Nao. The movie talks about a family which has to move away from their hometown due to the nuclear crisis after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and stay at temporary housing. Just then, the younger brother of this family (Matsuyama) returns home from Tokyo and this shakes up the family as they try to find hope in returning home one day.

The movie was first shown during the Berlin International Film Festival in February. Matsuyama who last appeared in a first-day screening event two years ago, commented that he was extremely happy about seeing the film being released and feels at ease about doing movies all this while as if it was his home. He also recounted that when he was offered the role, he was attracted by the fact that the movie isn't about a past event nor a period drama but actually talks about an ongoing story in the present. The filming which took place entirely in Fukushima, was also a period Matsuyama missed because the farmers who they had borrowed premises from to do the filming, treated them to meals with the local produce and he hopes that the movie will be able to convey to viewers the message that the produce were all grown with lots of love from the farmers.

When asked about his fighting scenes with his elder brother played by Uchino, Matsuyama said that Uchino is so passionate and immersed in his acting that he really felt like he was being strangled and thrown around for real so Matsuyama couldn't help but feel that he had to protect himself in order not to get hurt in the process. As for the scenes where he had to work on the fields with his mother (Tanaka), Matsuyama said that it was a happy sight because it showed how the family members were able to get through to each other via communication. As Matsuyama's interview took longer than expected, the other cast members didn't have the time to talk much so he apologised for it. After the photo-taking session, Ando finally got a chance to praise her onscreen husband Uchino for his great figure and nice body scent when they filmed an intimate scene together (edited from the movie though) to which Uchino replied that he was glad that he didn't smell like an old man to Ando.

Source: Eiga.com