OKINAWA INTERNATIONAL MOVIE FESTIVAL # 7 : INTERVIEW WITH GACKT (KARANUKAN)

While coming at the Okinawa International Movie Festival to present his new movie: Karanukan by Hamano Yasuhiro, GACKT has accepted to to answer our questions. A meeting with the legend!
GACKT. Who is he? But most of all what is GACKT? In the mid 90s, the Visual Kei group, Malice Mizer adopt a new singer that became the other grand figure of the group instantaneously. This young singer, is GACKT. His presence in the group will propel him into the popular Japanese imagination as a vampiric being with an impassive face. He started his solo career where he affirmed himself through his albums and collaborations at the cinema as a mysterious and bewitching character. He plays with his image, and he reflects on his figures in the Japanese pop culture during the 2000s builting the myth of GACKT outside his appearances. His physique marks Hideo Kojima or Tetsuya Nomura who will not fail to pay homage to him by integrating his face on one of the characters of the saga Final Fantasy. On the contrary, GACKT is in the spirit of the Japanese public but also int the world one: without know it, you’ve probably already seen his face in the ersatz that he sowed in Japan. The legend of GACKT precedes him, it is said that he would have paranormal powers or that he would come from another time. The ancient singer from Malice Mizer is like a modern myth between Marylin Manson, Mylène Farmer and Prince. He adapts at every trend and all the styles since 20 years, without denying the baroque gesture at the origin of its popularity of his image. In Karanukan, GACKT returns on his original island, to reveal a bit of the mystery that surrounds it … Or maybe not.

Kephren Montoute.

East Asia: Why did you choose Karanukan for your comeback at the cinema, after a long break of 14 years in your acting career?
In fact, I never stopped my acting career. I continued with drama for television, but my main activity is music. I had many offers for movies, but in fact, the calendars did not match. For planning reasons, I could not participate and I had to postpone many offers. But in this case, with Karanukan, the proposal came just after a tour, and the timing was perfect for me. That was one of the reasons why I was able to accept. But I was also born in Okinawa and wondered what I could do for Okinawa and its inhabitants as an native from the island. This is what was most of all a very important point that convinced me to join this project.

The Japan Times: So you were born in Okinawa. When you came back, did you feel nostalgic?
I did not really feel nostalgia. I always try to get back to Okinawa at least once a year. But this time I made this film in northern Okinawa and also in the South islands, especially in Iriomote. These are places that have kept the traces of historic Okinawa. These are scenes I could see when I was a child. All this atmosphere has plunged me back into my past in Okinawa. In fact, I went to Iriomote for the first time in my life for this filming and I was really struck by its beauty.

Billboard: You participated in Hollywood movies and Japanese movies. What are the differences between these productions?
In American movies, especially in Hollywood, the production is huge and the budget is very large compared to Japanese productions, where the schedule is very tight in terms of filming days. Because of this difference, things are more difficult here. But that does not mean I do not like working on Japanese productions. I like the fact that people try to do their best from this limited environment and budget. I love working with these people. So there really are talented people. But when I look at the Japanese film industry as a whole, I get the impression that the profits are low. And it’s worse and worse. I find that very worrying. I think the Japanese government should bring more support to the entertainment industries, not just movies, but also music. A more active aid would be a good thing.

East Asia: Do you see yourself as a singer / musician who sometimes makes a movie or is it a real career for you?
When I look deeply into myself, I do not categorize myself as a musician or actor. I do not divide into one of these boxes. I see myself as an expressionist: I express things, I am neither an actor nor a musician. In this perspective, I wonder how to express these things: by music, or by acting? That’s the difference. I do not make career choices based on this distinction. In fact, I am personally not really interested in being an actor in Japan. If I have to do it, I would like to do it outside of Japan. But the offers are not so numerous and even when they arrive, my schedule does not allow me to accept them.

The Japan Times: You play in Karanukan with the debutante actress Suzuka Kimura. What did you think of her performance?
If Karanukan was a classic film, with the use of a classic Japanese, it could have been harder for her, as it is her very first role. But in this film, she plays a girl from Okinawa. She uses her accent and dialect. When she speaks, her intonation is different and works well in this context. As a beginner, I think she can become mature and become an important actress.

Billboard: The gods and spirits are very present in the film. What are your beliefs?
In the past, many journalists have asked me this question. In Japan, we have many religions, but it is close enough to not being religious. In other countries, there are very few people who do not believe in what religions teach such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam or Buddhism, among others. Whereas in Japan, there are very few. Even if your own parents are religious, the children do not know what to believe. Okinawa is truly unique. My family believes that deceased family members become gods, and that they must be venerated. The other religion celebrates nature. So we have these two conceptions in Okinawa: venerating ancestors or nature. So we have gods in the water, the ocean, the mountains … Having a relationship with these gods is very natural. It’s a bit like being grateful for everything that surrounds us. Thanks to all that one has, beauty is everywhere. Venerating nature has no detailed theorization or well-defined rituals. Those who do it simply love nature and the mountains. As far as I’m concerned, when I have free time, I like to go to a place where I can feel nature and enjoy the wind.

Billboard: Through this film, were you able to express your beliefs?
Few Japanese really believe this kind of belief. I do not talk about it in public because it would be hard to understand what I mean. But there are opportunities to express and explain what I believe in. I sometimes tell people they have to appreciate things in their lives. In the United States, environmentalists impose rules such as banning dolphins or whales. They are against many things, but in Japan, worshiping nature is something different. We must be happy with what we have and appreciate our lives.

East Asia: Your character shares some of these mythological aspirations. Were these elements present in the script or did you add them?
I do not think the character in the film is so close to my own character, or my personality in real life. This character in the film is tired of living in a big city, although he has become very well known and successful in life. He is tired of all this. His journey to Iriomote will enable him to find something he has lost. Myself, I am a very calm person, and I do not like the big cities. But I do not really do anything about going to the countryside. When returning to Iriomote, the character of the film reconnects with something essential, basic. He begins to work the earth. Many city dwellers go to Iriomote and start a new life, to become farmers. But this does not necessarily mean that they are tired of living in bigger cities. It is as if Japan was sick. In Tokyo, people no longer seem satisfied with anything, do not feel anything. I feel that the earth itself is sick. The more technological advances are present, the more people seem disconnected from each other. There are no heart-to-heart connections between people. The information flows from one person to another, but no real communication takes place. Technology develops, but the heart is set aside. People understand what is going on, but their hearts are empty.

Interview by Victor Lopez in Naha on 23/04/2017.
Translation (French): Eiko Mizuno-Gray
Photos by Elvire Rémand.
Thanks to: Momoko Nakamura, Aki Kihara et toute l’équipe du festival d’Okinawa.

Source: eastasia.fr

Translation: GACKT ITALIA Team

Translation © GACKT ITALIA