{"id":901071,"date":"2026-10-31T12:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T12:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/901071\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T12:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T12:58:12","slug":"ozu-shapes-mishima-yukikos-two-cigarettes-three-nights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/901071\/","title":{"rendered":"Ozu Shapes Mishima Yukiko’s ‘Two Cigarettes, Three Nights’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tKnown for her dark relationship dramas, including the 2017 multiple-award-winner \u201cDear Etranger,\u201d Mishima Yukiko<\/a> has taken a different approach with her latest film, \u201cTwo Cigarettes, Three Nights,\u201d which is in competition at the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tBased on a 2014 novel by Chihaya Akane, it stars Matsuoka Mayu as Kanna, a picture book illustrator who has tired of her nice-but-boring live-in boyfriend (Inoue Yuki) while having nothing but a physical connection with her cynical married lover (Nakajima Ayumu).<\/p>\n

\n\tThen a close friend from her college days, Haseo (Narita Ryo), reenters her life after a gap of seven years and once again becomes her confidant. Now a salesman for a drug company and still single, Haseo is something of a womanizer, though he keeps his relationship with Kanna strictly platonic.<\/p>\n

\n\tShot in Kyoto, Hiroshima and Toyama Prefecture, the film makes screenwriter Sawai Kaori\u2019s talky script feel visually dynamic, while avoiding clich\u00e9 shots in Kyoto and Hiroshima, two of Japan\u2019s most famous tourist destinations. Instead of posing against temples and cherry blossoms, the two principals stroll along a riverbank or on railroad tracks as they renew their friendship \u2013 and flirt with something more.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen deciding on a location, it\u2019s not just about picking a \u2018pretty\u2019 spot,\u201d says Mishima in an interview at Tokyo Midtown, the main festival site. \u201cRather it\u2019s more about choosing a place where the scene comes to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAlso, the novel has a lot of scenes set inside a coffee shop, but in the movie (Kanna and Haseo) are walking just about the whole time,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

\n\tYears ago, she and a male friend spent more time walking together than sitting inside a shop and talking, she recalls. \u201cWe didn\u2019t talk about our worries and troubles \u2013 we\u2019d walk until dawn, just chatting about trivial things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTrivial\u201d is not the word to describe the film\u2019s dialogue, but it has a bantering tone, as well as an unfiltered honesty.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the same time, Kanna and Haseo don\u2019t face each other right away. \u201cI didn\u2019t want them to do that until a certain point,\u201d says Mishima. \u201cI wanted them to always be looking in the same direction. So when they go into a ramen shop, they are sitting side by side at a counter. The same with buses and trains \u2013 they sit next to each other, looking in the same direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA big influence in her shotmaking style, Mishima says, is Ozu Yasujiro, who often filmed characters side by side or even making the same motions in unison. \u201cI love how he captures the way people move within the flow of Japanese life, without cutting the shot, creating a sense of wonder,\u201d she says. \u201cHe is also brilliant in how he makes a grand narrative emerge from small, personal moments, so I\u2019ve been greatly influenced by that as well. My film starts from that personal perspective, but then it kind of opens up to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film\u2019s first act hints at sex comedy, and Mishima cast both of her leads \u2013 Matsuoka (\u201cTremble All You Want\u201d) and Narita (\u201cConvenience Story\u201d) \u2013 with their comic abilities in mind. But she has crafted something more intimate and complex, with an ending open to interpretation.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI thought that having a good sense for comedy was essential for the long dialogue scenes,\u201d says Mishima. \u201cThey require a sense of rhythm and actors with a feel for comedy have it. It makes a huge difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film is no lighthearted laugh fest: Kanna and Haseo are not always likable characters, acting in ways selfish, callous and even cruel. \u201cI think movies should be able to portray all kinds of people and tell all kinds of stories,\u201d says Mishima. \u201cAnd it\u2019s good to have characters that represent all kinds of people, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think viewers will probably be able to relate to their emotions,\u201d she adds. \u201cThey\u2019ll be able to find a part of themselves \u2013 \u2018Oh, I\u2019ve felt this way too.\u2019 That\u2019s what makes a good actor. No matter how bad the person they\u2019re portraying is, you end up understanding them or rather you can\u2019t help but feel the way they do. That\u2019s their charm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOther characters add their perspectives, such as a surly bartender who is close to Haseo and thinks Kanna is hurting him, and Kanna\u2019s jaded college friend who freely admits to cheating on her husband and sympathizes with Kanna\u2019s infidelities. \u201cI wanted to present the story in a multi-layered way,\u201d says Mishima. \u201cThe film\u2019s Japanese title is \u2018The Male Friend,\u2019 but it gradually drifts away from that theme. It\u2019s more a story about what Kanna comes to see. By spending time with Haseo, she gains a perspective that lets her see not just herself but the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKanna\u2019s art also changes. In sharp contrast to the commercial hack work that pays her bills, she completes a painting that grows out of her three eventful days with Haseo. \u201cWhat I want to convey is embedded in that final painting,\u201d says Mishima. \u201cKanna learns something in Hiroshima about herself and the world and puts that message into her painting. I wanted to depict the whole process, right up to the point where viewers come to see her painting and receive that message.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Known for her dark relationship dramas, including the 2017 multiple-award-winner \u201cDear Etranger,\u201d Mishima Yukiko has taken a different…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":901072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[88,377361,206,88018],"class_list":["post-901071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-mishima-yukiko","tag-movies","tag-tokyo-international-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=901071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/901072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}