Many filmmakers spend years pitching to potential investors before scraping up enough cash to make their next masterpiece. Actor-turned-director Hiroki Kono solved the money problem differently: He not only scripted, directed, edited and starred in his first film, but he also cast only one other actor and shot on the fly, with nothing resembling a set. He probably could have covered his production budget by working part-time for a month at McDonald’s.
The film, “J005311,” won the grand prize at the Pia Film Festival, which has long been a launching pad for directorial talent. Seeing it at the Tokyo International Film Festival last year, I thought its simple story — a depressed salaryman (Kazuaki Nomura) hires a punkish thief (Kono) to drive him to an unnamed destination near Mount Fuji — might have been better told as a short. But stretched to a feature, it still held my attention to the end.
Kono and cinematographer Hikaru Sano use long takes of the protagonist walking, riding and pondering that test the audience's patience. But the duo also creates tension and suspense with a handheld camera that follows his every move so closely and tightly that it feels umbilically attached. And just when I thought the film might devolve into one long, claustrophobic cut, it varied shot angles and lengths enough to keep me engaged.