In a two-decade directing career that began with the 1997 relationship drama ¡°Open House,¡± Isao Yukisada has made everything from the critically acclaimed ¡°Go¡± (2001), with its rebellious Zainichi Korean hero battling his way through a Japanese high school, to the smash hit ¡°Crying Out Love in the Center of the World¡± (2004), with its story of high school lovers separated by a fatal disease.
But the 49-year-old director had never made a manga adaptation (a local industry stand-by) prior to the turbulent coming-of-age drama ¡°River¡¯s Edge.¡± When I meet him at the office of distributor Kino Films, he is about to leave for the Berlin International Film Festival, where ¡°River¡¯s Edge¡± is set to screen in the Panorama section.
Tall and lanky, with wavy long hair and black-framed glasses, Yukisada is instantly recognizable from his photos, especially after he takes off the surgical mask he¡¯s wearing. (¡°I¡¯m worried about catching the flu,¡± he later explains.) First on my list of questions is, why the manga blank in his filmography?
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