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Interview: Goodbye, Don Glees! Film Director Atsuko Ishizuka

by Kim Morrissy,

Best known for the touching anime original TV series A Place Further Than the Universe, Atsuko Ishizuka's newest film Goodbye, Don Glees! has recently hit U.S. theaters. We interviewed Ishizuka about the film's unique setting, cultural differences to look out for, and the likelihood of getting attacked by a bear in the Japanese countryside.

Unlike your previous work, Goodbye, Don Glees! is a film rather than a TV series. Did you encounter any difficulties creating a plot that fits the movie format?

I was used to working in serialized TV production, so not being able to connect various episodes to dig down into each character was tough for me. If this was a series, I could have inserted Drop's separate story at around the fourth episode, for example. And around the sixth episode, I would have had Tivoli's side story with Roma and depict their relationship more deeply. Or, right before the final episode, it might have been interesting to have an episode about Don Glees's past and stories around the legendary phone booths in Iceland. The fact that I couldn't have that kind of derailment was very difficult for me.

Although Iceland is an important location in the film, the first half depicts the Japanese countryside. Why did you decide to focus more on the local setting this time?

Since the theme of this film was about change in world view, and widening it, I thought the world where the boys lived in the beginning should be a small place. I thought it should be a countryside town surrounded by mountains where only a little information was available. On the contrary, the neighbors had such an intense relationship with each other that when something happened, it easily made life uncomfortable. Even still, the town provided many things like the warmth of nature and people. Vegetables and cows were being raised on this land, and the lives growing on it were well-nurtured. The place offered nostalgia and safety to its residents. That is why the boys were completely convinced that it's the place for them and it's their whole entire world. They were growing up without knowing the outside world. This small countryside town was particularly important as a stage for the boys to be born.

How much location scouting did you do for this film?

To tell you the truth, partially because I wanted to get out of Japan and travel through Iceland and New York to circle around the Northern Hemisphere, I picked those places as the stages for this story. That is to say, I wanted to actually feel that there's no end to this world and we can forever fly around it. That's why I wanted to go on an exciting location scouting trip. However, because of the spread of COVID-19, I couldn't go anywhere. I only did virtual location scouting through Google. I could travel around so much more than I could have in person. Round and round.

After the pandemic I'd love to go to those places in person and see if they match with what I imagined.

What sort of things did you keep in mind when writing the dialogue? Did you take a different approach compared to A Place Further Than the Universe?

I wasn't intentionally separating the two titles in particular. This is a different title from the other one. When I face a new project, I always have the same attitude. What I always try to be careful with is for characters' daily conversations to seem like daily conversations. This was also a focus during the production of “A Place Further Than the Universe”. For example, in the scene where the three of them are testing the drone in their secret fort. Roma and Toto are facing each other and talking about the drone, when out of the blue, Toto says to Drop, who is right next to him, “Don't forget to take out the garbage”. He says it even without looking at him. Sometimes, even when having a serious conversation with someone in front of you, another person's actions that you can see in the corner of your eye can derail the conversation. This sort of thing happens often in real life but we rarely see it in animation where the direction of the conversation is preset and the acting is coded. (I wonder if it is a Japanese thing?)

I have to ask: how likely is it that you'll get attacked by a bear if you go camping in Japan?

My family went camping often when I was a child but we never encountered a bear, because bears are cowards so they don't come near campsites. Those places are very carefully controlled so as not to have wild animals coming in. So campers do not have to worry about it. However... After growing up, I saw news about a close encounter with a bear at that camping site. And I learned just like Roma did. There's nothing that is 100% certain. This world is filled with wonders. The possibilities are unlimited.

Do you have a message for the American viewers?

I'd love the western audience to pay attention to the world map that appears in the film. That is the map of the world we Japanese are familiar with. Roma and friends say that Iceland and New York are the two edges of the world. If they were born in the U.S., they'd have a different perspective. I would love the audience to enjoy the differences in perspective, and what they can see in the film. That is a part of the message the film wants to convey.

Images ©Goodbye,DonGlees Partners


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