First-day-screening event of new movie "Chinmoku - Silence -"

The first-day-screening event of new movie "Chinmoku - Silence -" was held at TOHO Cinemas Scala-Za on 21 January which was attended by cast members Kubozuka Yosuke, Asano Tadanobu, Komatsu Nana, Issey Ogata and Tsukamoto Shinya. The movie which is based on the novel by the late Endo Shusaku and directed by Martin Scorsese, was the realisation of the director's dream for 28 years. The story is set during the Edo era at Nagasaki where there was a crackdown on Christianity. Andrew Garfield plays a young missionary who witnesses what happens and describes how the locals such as Kijiro (Kubozuka) try to maintain their faith amid the circumstances.

Asano praised Kubozuka for doing a very good job at playing Kijiro which the latter also responded by saying that he can't help but copy his signature line at home. Kubozuka also revealed that the scenes showing him display a lot of emotion such as sobbing were deliberately edited out by the director which he felt was probably good in helping to promote his acting in Hollywood.

In line with one of the themes in the movie about the weak, Kubozuka began his message by saying that the newspapers may not report what he said but he still hoped to convey how he felt to everyone in the audience. Due to the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in 2011, many people became the weak and there were many others in a similar situation after that due to various reasons. However, the government was quick to splurge the tax money on other countries instead of helping those in need within Japan. In addition, despite the dangers of nuclear power plants, the government is still trying to restart them. As such, Kubozuka hopes that even if they are in such a world, everyone will still be able to find their own answers as to how they want to live going forward. He also commented that even though he likes happy movies, a movie like this with such a heavy theme is important  and he hopes that everyone will be able to see it and believe that there will be a better tomorrow ahead. In response to his heartfelt message, the audience responded with a loud round of applause.

Sources: Oricon / Eiga.com