KAOKIRI: Defaced Actor - Method Acting on the Cutting Edge
貌斬り KAOKIRI〜戯曲「スタニスラフスキー探偵団」より(KAOKIRI Gikyoku “Stanislavsky tantei-dan”yori)

Intro“Kaokiri,” the tenth film by maverick director Tatsuoki Hosono, is a meta-cinematic extravagant
experiment with a multi-layered structure. The film shows a theatre group performing a play,which is about the making of a film inspired from a real historical incident. Within the play, thedirector of the film pushes everyone to dig deeper into their roles, and what should have been
historical drama begins to turn into something darker and more chilling. The theatre actors
become so absorbed in the play that their personal lives begin to bleed into their work, and thedramas on and off stage begin to merge and spin out of control, laying bare ugly primal instincts.
Through a caustic screenplay realized by the actors’ overwhelming performance, “Kaokiri”
portrays Japan in its nudity, a nation where directors have to struggle to create a film according
to their vision, as people have to go against all odds to lead a life of their own.

Story
In 1937, film star Kazuo Hasegawa decides to break his contract andmove to a different studio, an unprecedented act of ingratitude at thetime. Shortly afterwards he is assaulted, and his face is so badly slashedthat he gets permanently disfigured – what was to soon become anational scandal.
A film crew is working with their director trying to figure how to
perform a script based on the Hasegawa scandal. The director
proposes to approach the characters via the Stanislavsky method.
Will it work out?
A theatrical play about the film crew trying to tackle the challenges ofan intriguing script through an acting method that blurs the boundariesof stage and personal life.
Us.

Director’s statement
During my adolescence, Japanese films were all produced by major film studios that were thebyproducts of Japan’s rapid post-war economic growth. Starring roles, and in fact, the entire cast,were chosen from a highly select group of actors, and we watched them on the brilliant, big
screen as if they were creatures from “another world.”
Back then, Japan was still predominantly an agricultural nation, and movie theaters operated next
to farm lands. Most everyone, including white-collar workers, did farm work.
Throughout Japanese history, actors were considered “entertainers” whose job was to portray the“extraordinary” vs. the “ordinary” or “banal.” Of course, the “extraordinary” and “ordinary” aretwo sides of the same coin, and the very existence of “entertainers” could be considered“ordinary.”
In post-war Japan, movies played a vital role in helping people escape the banality of everyday
life, and even if only for a few hours, enter an “extraordinary” world.
The age of television ushered in the decline of movie theaters. Japan’s agricultural fabric wasalso weakened, with farmland and farm work disappearing. As if in response, the line between“ordinary” and “extraordinary” began to blur. Why? While show business was once considered a“lowly occupation,” TV launched “entertainers” into overnight celebrities, and more young
people suddenly wanted to become part of that world. I was one of them. I aspired to become afilm director despite coming from an ordinary working class family.
To my mind, the defining moment when Japan abandoned its agricultural roots to become amodern society, was also when the Japanese collective conscience, including my own, began togo off track.
Fueled by the bubble economy at the end of the 20th century, ordinary Japanese began toconsider themselves “extraordinary” – a phenomenon which bred 100 million “entertainers.” I,
too, became a director. The new age Japanese had no use for traditional “entertainers.”
This shift in the Japanese conscience was both bewildering and fascinating. The film world
would dramatically evolve yet again when the societal role and dominance of TV was challenged
by the internet age. And of course, the role of traditional actors, or “entertainers,” changed alongwith it.
But the “ordinary” forever remains part of human existence, and no true “entertainer” can remain
oblivious to the “darkness” that lies within it.
“Kaokiri” (face slashing) mirrors the “passion” and “pride” of true “entertainers” that portrayand expose the “darkness” that lies within the human soul.
The solitary internal struggles of a handful of modern Japanese actors who have resolved toemerge as true “entertainers” and embody the “ordinary” as “darkness”, are about to be revealedon the small stage.
Tatsuoki Hosono

Director
Tatsuoki HOSONO Born in 1952 in Kanagawa Prefecture, Tatsuoki Hosono graduated fromDokkyo University and went on to study at The Japan Institute of the Moving Image (formerlythe Yokohama Broadcasting Technical School) before serving as assistant director under Shohei
Imamura, Kazuhiko Hasegawa, Shinji Somai and Kichitaro Negishi (spending his assistantdirector years in the Director’s Company film studio launched by Imamura Productions). Hisdirectorial debut in 1991 with “Gekiso Trucker Densetsu” coincided with the rise of Takashi
Miike and Rokuro Mochizuki, earning the three directors the nickname “The 3 Crows of the newaction cinema). Hosono, however, went on to create powerful works of social relevance in many
genres. In 2011, he launched “Stanislavsky Detectives,” his own production
unit. [Filmography] Gekiso Trucker Densetsu (’91), Osaka Gokudo DensetsuShinoidare (’94), Hoshi ni Negai o (’95), Vicious Path of Shabu (Shabu Gokudo, ’96), Eyes ofWolf (Okami no Me, ’97), Baisyun Boryokudan (’97), Ryuji Forever (’02),
Chosakusha Jinkakuken (’03), Moyuru Toki The Excellent Company (’06), Chichiri (one offive short movies, ’10), My Uncle (Watashi no Ojisan, ’12), Kaokiri: Stanislavsky
Detectives (’15). Stage productions: Stanislavsky Detectives (’10), Marx Gurentai, Gensakusha
Jr. Rachi Jiken Nau (’11), Stanislavsky Detectives RETURNS (’15).
Cast and role
Kouta KUSANO as Renji Ogata (as Director Jubei Kazama)
Kinuo YAMADA as Chigusa Minami (as Producer Hisako Futagawa)Misa WADA as Azusa Wada (as Coffee shop waitress)
Suzuyuki KANEKO as Hajime Shimizu (as Assistant director and actor Tsuboi)
Tomonari MUKAIYAMA as Ippei Mukai (as Scenario writer Maruyama)
Yuta MORIYA as Akira Iio (as First assistant director Ayabe)
Chiari MORIKAWA as Suzuko Makable (as Assistant producer)
Mana MINAMIHISAMATSU as Ineko Yomogida (as Movie critic Takewaki)
Asami HISATO as Kuroko
Yasushi SHIMAZAKI as Syota Hino (as Latter big star Kazuo Hase)
Miyuki SATO as Yurie Mishima (as Actress who gets off the part of the heroin)
Yoko HATANAKA as Stage Producer Junko Nakata
Houka KINOSHITA as Stage director Tetsu Onisako

Crew
Tatsuoki HOSONO: Investor, Producer, Screenplay and Director
Keiko KUSAKABE：investor, producer
Tadahito SUGIYAMA：investor, producer
Akiyuki Michikawa: Cinematographer
Yuki ITO: Stage lighting
Tamotsu ARAI: Lighting
Daisuke Wakabayashi: Sound recording and Film editor
Koichi Kanakatsu: Art director
Ryouta TERUI: Stage design
Hiroaki YABUNAKA: Music
Tatsunosuke ARIMA: First assistant director

Billing credits
KAOKIRI: Defaced Actor - Method Acting on the Cutting Edge
Kouta KUSANO Kinuo YAMADAMisa WADA Suzuyuki KANEKO Tomonari MUKAIYAMA Yuta MORIYAChiari MORIKAWA Mana MINAMIHISAMATSU Asami HISATO Yasuhi SHIMAZAKIMiyuki SATO Yoko HATANAKA Houka KINOSHITA
Screenplay/Director: Tatsuoki HOSONO Cinematograpy by Akiyuki MICHIKAWA Stage lighting by Yuki ITO Litghting by Tamotsu ARAI
Sound recording/Film editing by Daisuke WAKABAYASHI Art director Koichi KANEKATSU Stage design by Ryouta TERUIMusic by Hiroaki YABUNAKA First assistant director: Tatsunosuke ARIMA
Producers: Tatsuoki HOSONO Keiko KUSAKABE Tadahito SUGIYAMA
Investors: Tatsuoki HOSONO Keiko KUSAKABE Tadahito SUGIYAMA Office keel
Distributed by Makotoya©2015 Tatsuoki Hosono/Keiko Kusakabe/ Tadahito Sugiyama/Office Keel
2015/Japan/color/16:9/5.1ch,2.0ch/DCP,BD/143min.

Info@makotoyacoltd.jp

Keiko KUSAKABE

Makotoyacoltd Co.,Ltd.
Text by George Petmezas, Jacopo Bortolussi