At an appearance prior to the Japan premiere of Bring Him Down to a Portable Size on October 31, the impossibly dynamic—and eternally youthful—duo of director Nakano Ryota and actor Odagiri Joe treated the audience to such a cheerful, entertaining preshow that it was worth the price of admission alone. Their new film, screening in the Gala selection at the 38th Tokyo International Film Festival, also has arguably the most appealing poster—three women and a little boy toting a life-size cardboard cutout of a grinning Odagiri, set against a yellow background—and attendees had braved a stormy Halloween night in order to find the sunshine promised by that image.
 
True to his reputation as a latter-day Yamada Yoji (i.e., a gentle and humorous chronicler of Japanese family life), Nakano has created a film that’s both timeless and completely modern, focusing on the things we don’t say to our families while we have the chance… but should.
 
Nakano greeted everyone warmly, telling them, “As a filmmaker, my greatest joy is when as many people as possible see my films. And tonight, I’m grateful that so many of you are here. TIFF is a big event held just once a year, and when so many people come, it’s the biggest reward I can imagine.”
 
Said the fashionably attired Odagiri, “Wow, you all have such nice seats!” Then he looked more closely. “Oh, I see it’s only the front row that has the plush leather.”
 
Odagiri is one of the most recognizable Japanese actors of his generation, with key roles in films by Kurosawa Kiyoshi, Kore-eda Hirokazu, Nishikawa Mika, Aoyama Shinji, and yes, Nakano Ryota, and he has now been a leading man for a quarter of a century. Yet he retains the bouncing joie de vivre that has always drawn directors and viewers to him.
 
He and Nakano had worked together on the hit Her Love Boils Bathwater (2016), and after the latest script was written, the actor was sent a copy.
 
“I read the script and I really wanted to be in the film. I thought it was an amazing script,” he recalled. “And I liked Mr. Nakano’s message. I read it when he was in New York at a film festival, and I wrote him right away to tell him how wonderful the script was. He responded that he would be very happy if I would take the role, and I had no hesitation whatsoever about being in the film. It’s difficult to explain because you haven’t seen the film yet, but it’s truly wonderful, and I know you’re going to enjoy it.”
 
Bring Him Down to a Portable Size is not so much about Odagiri’s roustabout character, whose name we never hear, as it is about his sister Riko (Shibasaki Ko), his ex-wife Kanako (Mitsushima Hikari), his daughter Marina (Aoyama Himeno) and a little boy named Ryoichi. In fact, Riko’s brother is dead, and she is not particularly happy about having to drive to her hometown to clean up his trash-filled apartment and wind up his affairs. Her brother never had a proper job, constantly cadged money from others, did not help Riko take care of their mother when she was on her deathbed, and got divorced almost immediately after marrying.
 
But as Riko hears stories about her brother from others, she starts to realize she never really knew him. And now he is gone so suddenly, leaving further burdens on the family, and she will never have a chance to make peace with him. Until… her brother begins appearing to her, always smiling or laughing, and looking for all the world like he empathizes with what Riko’s going through.
 
Nakano was asked why he’d felt Odagiri was the man for the role, prompting a great deal of giggling on stage, and he admitted, “Frankly speaking, this guy is a loser. He’s unreliable, irresponsible, but you can’t help loving him. If you think about what actor would play this kind of amiable character best, there’s no question it’s Mr. Odagiri.”
 
“He’s been playing one loser after another in many films, and I worried that he might turn it down. But since this loser is a new type of loser, he accepted.”
 
Nakano last worked with Odagiri 10 years ago, and he was asked whether it had been different this time around. “Back then, he was so free, he came up with all these different ideas, and right before we started rolling the camera, he’d suddenly say that his character should be eating ice cream and the producer would have to run and get ice cream — (At this point, Odagiri was giggling as loudly as the audience.) He was truly a free spirit. But this time, he actually stuck to the script, so I asked him why he was doing everything exactly as specified. He said, ‘because it’s a good script.’ Maybe I should view that as a problem with the last script…”
 
“I just remembered this, listening to Mr. Nakano, but… oh! I shouldn’t talk about this because you haven’t seen the film yet. I find him very sincere and very, very serious, to the extent that sometimes I come up with a fun idea and he either doesn’t get it or he gets upset about it. I think he has an image in his mind about how the film should be, and for that reason, he’s serious about putting all his effort into it.” said Odagiri.
 
Greetings from the Stage: Gala Selection
Bring Him Down to a Portable Size
Guests: Nakano Ryota (Director), Odagiri Joe (Actor)