It's Only Talk
Encyclopedia
It's Only Talk is a Japanese film
, released in 2005
and is based on the prize winning novel of the same title written by Akiko Itoyama
and directed by Ryuichi Hiroki
.
Yuko, is 35 years old; unemployed, single and is on medication to combat manic depression. There are a number of men in Yuko's life:
Yuko seems to create a different persona depending on whom she is talking to at the time. By the end of the movie, Yuko knows that she needs more than what Soichi and the other men in her life can give her. We all need a soft life -- the literal meaning of "Yawarakai Seikatsu" -- once in a while, but as Yuko discovers, there's also something to be said for this hard thing called reality.
As an actress, Ms. Terajima, is the embodiment of “the present“ as well as of Japanese cinema. Her humorous and at times serious performance as Yuko shows us a glimpse of a new kind of woman: being alone, yet accepting what she may want to deny and soldiering on in life.
Etsushi Toyokawa
plays Yuko’s cousin, Shoichi who has a credible combination of good-heartedness and unreliability.
Shunsuke Matsuoka plays Homma, Yuko’s old time friend. Honma believes that true love can cure his impotence.
Tomorowo Taguchi
plays a self confessed pervert, “K”. In normal life “K” is married and works as an architect.
Satoshi Tsumabuki
plays Noboru, the manic depressive gang member. Yuko meets him through the Internet.
Cinematographer: Kazuhiro Suzuki
Screenwriter: Haruhiko Arai
Original novel written by: Akiko Itoyama
suffering from manic depression could get better.
Cinema of Japan
The has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world – as of 2009 the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. Movies have been produced in Japan since 1897, when the first foreign cameramen arrived...
, released in 2005
2005 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2005...
and is based on the prize winning novel of the same title written by Akiko Itoyama
Akiko Itoyama
is a Japanese novelist, who won the 134th Akutagawa Prize.-Biography:After graduation from Shinjuku High School and , Waseda University, she worked as a saleswoman for a major household equipment company and, as is common in Japanese corporate life, was transferred several times to various localities...
and directed by Ryuichi Hiroki
Ryuichi Hiroki
is a Japanese artist, film director, and film editor.-Biography:Ryūichi Hiroki is now one of the most prolific film directors in Japan. He is a pioneer in using digital video to shoot theatrical films in Japan...
.
Plot summary
“Kamata Town: not an ounce of chic...” “Perhaps I should move there...” So begins Yuko’s story.Yuko, is 35 years old; unemployed, single and is on medication to combat manic depression. There are a number of men in Yuko's life:
- her College friend, Homma, now a member of parliament;
- K, a confessed pervert who she meets on the Internet;
- Yasuda, a manic depressive young gang member;
- Soichi, Yuko’s cousin who separated from his wife and child, and was also dumped by his mistress.
Yuko seems to create a different persona depending on whom she is talking to at the time. By the end of the movie, Yuko knows that she needs more than what Soichi and the other men in her life can give her. We all need a soft life -- the literal meaning of "Yawarakai Seikatsu" -- once in a while, but as Yuko discovers, there's also something to be said for this hard thing called reality.
Cast
Shinobu Terajima as Yuko.As an actress, Ms. Terajima, is the embodiment of “the present“ as well as of Japanese cinema. Her humorous and at times serious performance as Yuko shows us a glimpse of a new kind of woman: being alone, yet accepting what she may want to deny and soldiering on in life.
- Ms. Terajima was born in 1972 in KyotoKyotois a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
. Her father is a famous KabukiKabukiis classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.The individual kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing , dance , and skill...
actor, and her mother is well known actress Junko Fuji, who starred in the Red Peony Gambler series for Toei CompanyToei Companyis a Japanese film, television production, and distribution corporation. Based in Tokyo, Toei owns and operates thirty-four movie theaters across Japan, a modest vertically-integrated studio system by the standards of the 1930s United States; operates studios at Tokyo and Kyoto; and is a...
. Ms. Terajima debuted on TV at the age of 17 and then shifted to the theater. She starred in two films in 2003, Akame 48 Waterfalls (directed by Genjiro AratoGenjiro Aratois a Japanese film producer, actor and director. In 1980, he produced Zigeunerweisen for director Seijun Suzuki. He was unable to secure exhibitors for the film and famously exhibited it himself in a specially-built, inflatable, mobile tent...
) and Vibrator (directed by Ryuichi HirokiRyuichi Hirokiis a Japanese artist, film director, and film editor.-Biography:Ryūichi Hiroki is now one of the most prolific film directors in Japan. He is a pioneer in using digital video to shoot theatrical films in Japan...
) where she played Rei, an emotionally fragile writer. Her acting in both films is outstanding and she received major acting awards in Japan for both films.
Etsushi Toyokawa
Etsushi Toyokawa
to pursue a career in acting. He began by joining the sho-gekijo theatrical troupe "Under Thirty," which was known for the membership of another famous actor, Watanabe Eriko, at the time...
plays Yuko’s cousin, Shoichi who has a credible combination of good-heartedness and unreliability.
- Mr. Toyokawa was born in 1962 in OsakaOsakais a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
. He started his acting career in the theater. He is well known in Japan where he played everything from the mad serial killer in "Hasami Otoko (Scissors Man)" to the valiant Ainu brave in "Kita no Zero-nen (Year Zero in the North)," . He has received many acting awards in Japan. Mr. Toyokawa also writes and directs; his first novel was published in 2003.
Shunsuke Matsuoka plays Homma, Yuko’s old time friend. Honma believes that true love can cure his impotence.
- Mr. Matsuoka was born in 1972 in TokyoTokyo, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
. He started work as a fashion model, but moved to acting when he was cast in the leading role in Mr. Ryuichi HirokiRyuichi Hirokiis a Japanese artist, film director, and film editor.-Biography:Ryūichi Hiroki is now one of the most prolific film directors in Japan. He is a pioneer in using digital video to shoot theatrical films in Japan...
’s film, 800 Two Lap Runners 1994. Mr. Matsuoka has been cast in many Japanese films since 1994.
Tomorowo Taguchi
Tomorowo Taguchi
is a Japanese actor.After leaving Dokkyo University without graduating, he started to earn his living as an illustrator, writer and pornographic cartoonist. He joined a theatre called Hakken no Kai in 1978 and he made a screen debut in Zokubutsu Zukan in 1982...
plays a self confessed pervert, “K”. In normal life “K” is married and works as an architect.
- Mr. Taguchi was born in 1957 in TokyoTokyo, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
. He is known in the international film scene, as he has worked with many notable directors like Shohei ImamuraShohei Imamurawas a Japanese film director. Imamura was the first Japanese director to win two Palme d'Or awards.His eldest son Daisuke Tengan is also a script writer and film director, and worked on the screenplays to Imamura's filmsThe Eel , Dr...
and Shinya TsukamotoShinya Tsukamotois a Japanese film director and actor with a considerable cult following both domestically and abroad.-Biography:Tsukamoto started making movies at the age of 14, when his father gave him a Super 8 camera. He made a number of films, ranging...
. He is an active musician (has his own band), writer and he directed a film. He also narrated a well known non-fiction program on TV.
Satoshi Tsumabuki
Satoshi Tsumabuki
is a Japanese actor. His breakthrough film was Waterboys for which he was nominated for the 'Best Actor' award at the Japanese Academy Awards, and won the 'Newcomer of the Year' prize...
plays Noboru, the manic depressive gang member. Yuko meets him through the Internet.
- Mr. Tsumabuki was born in 1980 in FukuokaFukuoka Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan located on Kyūshū Island. The capital is the city of Fukuoka.- History :Fukuoka Prefecture includes the former provinces of Chikugo, Chikuzen, and Buzen....
. He was chosen to be an actor when he won an audition among some 3 million candidates in 1997. In 1998 he was the lead role in the film, Subarashiki Hibi (Wonderful Days)'. Mr. Tsumabuki is reviewed by film critics as one of Japan's very talented young stars.
Production
Producer: Akira Morishige- Mr. Morishige began his film career by editing films. His first credit as a producer was Naoto Yamakawa's film New Dawn of Billy the Kid, 1986. Since then, he has produced many successful movies. In 2004 he received a special award for producing Ryuichi HirokiRyuichi Hirokiis a Japanese artist, film director, and film editor.-Biography:Ryūichi Hiroki is now one of the most prolific film directors in Japan. He is a pioneer in using digital video to shoot theatrical films in Japan...
's film, Vibrator.
Cinematographer: Kazuhiro Suzuki
- Mr. Suzuki's first film as a cinemtographer was This Window is Yours by Tomoyuki FurumayaTomoyuki Furumayais a Japanese film director.-Career:Born in Nagano Prefecture, Furumaya was attending Nihon University when his 16mm film, Shakunetsu no dojjibōru, won the grand prize at the Pia Film Festival...
, 1995. He has worked consecutively with director Ryuichi HirokiRyuichi Hirokiis a Japanese artist, film director, and film editor.-Biography:Ryūichi Hiroki is now one of the most prolific film directors in Japan. He is a pioneer in using digital video to shoot theatrical films in Japan...
since 1999.
Screenwriter: Haruhiko Arai
- Mr. Arai first worked for Koji WakamatsuKoji Wakamatsuis a Japanese film director who directed such pinku eiga films as and . He also produced Nagisa Ōshima's controversial film In the Realm of the Senses...
as an assistant director and then decided to become a screen writer. He wrote and directed for the first time in 1997, the film Body and Soul.
Original novel written by: Akiko Itoyama
- “It’s Only Talk”, Akiko Itoyama's first novel won a major literary monthly award, the Bungakukai’s 96th Newcomer’s Prize. Ms. Itoyama's narration rejects sentimentality and shows that even hopeless people can be depicted with warmth.
It's Only Talks message
It's Only Talk not only highlights the illness of manic depression, it also suggests ways to care for the patient. The film suggests that through tender loving care, and by acknowledging their reality, and seeking help as patients, peoplesuffering from manic depression could get better.
Awards
- Singapore International Film FestivalSingapore International Film FestivalThe Singapore International Film Festival was launched in 1987. The festival is an annual film event, held around April/May each year, and screens about 300 films from over 45 countries...
Grand Prize 2006 - Audience Award: Barcelona Asian Film Festival 2006
- FIPRESCI Award: Brisbane International Film FestivalBrisbane International Film FestivalBrisbane International Film Festival held in Brisbane provides a focus for film culture in Queensland, Australia. The festival has taken place since 1992 and focuses on films from the Asia-Pacific region. The event offers films including features, documentaries, shorts, experimental, silent films...
2005
See also
- Brisbane International Film FestivalBrisbane International Film FestivalBrisbane International Film Festival held in Brisbane provides a focus for film culture in Queensland, Australia. The festival has taken place since 1992 and focuses on films from the Asia-Pacific region. The event offers films including features, documentaries, shorts, experimental, silent films...
- Singapore International Film FestivalSingapore International Film FestivalThe Singapore International Film Festival was launched in 1987. The festival is an annual film event, held around April/May each year, and screens about 300 films from over 45 countries...