Interviews with people you know well can turn awkward if you try to be the probing questioner instead of the coffee-shop companion. No such worries with 61-year-old Ryuichi Hiroki, the former pink film (i.e., soft pornography) director who made his commercial and critical breakthrough with the erotically charged youth drama ¡°800 Two Lap Runners¡± in 1994.
Though we have met elsewhere many times and once spent a week traveling around central Brazil together, Hiroki quickly slipped into interviewee mode when we met to talk about ¡°Sayonara Kabukicho¡± (¡°Kabukicho Love Hotel¡°), his ensemble drama set in a love hotel in Shinjuku¡¯s biggest entertainment district. But when I asked him why the film has been such a hit on the festival circuit ¡ª playing to enthusiastic crowds at Busan, Toronto and Tokyo Filmex ¡ª he smilingly turned the tables on me. ¡°What do you think?¡± he asked.
Good question, since I had recommended the film to the upcoming Udine Far East Film Festival.
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