First-day-screening event of new movie "Itsumata kimi to Herijunzailai"

The first-day-screening event of new movie "Itsumata kimi to Herijunzailai" was held at TOHO Cinemas Shinjuku on 24 June which was attended by the director Fukagawa Yoshihiro, the scriptwriter Yamamoto Mutsumi and cast members Ono Machiko, Mukai Osamu, Kishimoto Kayoko, Suruga Taro and Narita Ishin. The movie is based on the life of Mukai's grandmother Ashimura Tomoko. When Mukai was in university, he compiled the diary entries of his grandmother into a book which was published with the pool of funds from the family and presented to Tomoko on her 90th birthday. The book contains stories of Tomoko and her husband Goro during the tough post-war days when resources were scarce and how they tried to survive while supporting each other. Ono plays the role of Tomoko while Mukai plays the role of Goro in the movie. 7 years ago, Mukai came up with the idea of making the book into a real-life movie and participated actively in the production along with Fukagawa and Yamamoto.

After the cast appeared on stage, they were greeted with loud cheers and a standing ovation which led Ono to start crying. Mukai then handed her a handkerchief to wipe her tears as she expressed her thanks to everyone for their support while still sobbing. Mukai also echoed her view and revealed that seeing Ono cry made him calmer for some reason but today was a special day for him as he saw how the movie seemed to have conveyed the feelings of many people to the audience successfully. He expressed his thanks to Ono who played his wife which made her cry again and hide her face behind the bouquet of yellow flowers she received from Mukai as a surprise.

Kishimoto talked about the experience of working alongside the late Nogiwa Yoko in this movie and revealed that the latter was looking forward to attending the first-day-screening event. However, she passed away on 13 June before her wish could be realised. Kishimoto said that it was a honour to be able to work with Nogiwa and that she had looked so healthy when they were filming the movie in February last year. Mukai also commented that Nogiwa had said before that she hoped that the tough post-war days should never come again and that it was important to convey such a message through this movie.

Sources: Eiga.com / Oricon