Patrick is still cutting furiously. He decided to work through the weekend. I’ve re-done the schedule to give us a few more days to cut Ken’s sequences. We have the most sequences with him, and they are all just so fantastic. Ken really has that ineffable thing on camera. Here are the sequences we’ve cut so far:
Ken’s prepares for an Audition
Aki’s Announcer Class
Ken and Aki Head Hunting from Home
Ken and Aki sing Karaoke
Ken lifts weights and fields Head Hunting calls
Ken and Aki do a home Lamaze Class
Ken works the phones at Guest House (wedding sales company)
Ken marries a J-Couple
Ken and Aki have dinner with Sachi and Pappa at an Izakaya
Ken gets a hair cut, and Sachi and Aki prepare him for another audition
Ken and Aki with Aki’s family in Takasaki
Ken Records a Demo Tape
Ken and Aki Bathe Taiga
Ken Quits Head Hunting (Bridge Group)
Ken shops for Aki’s Christmas Present
Ken Performs “Christmas Mass”
O-Shougatsu in Takasaki
Sumo with the Coggers
Ken and Aki look for a New Flat
Reading Sheila Curran Bernard’s “Documentary Storytelling for Video and Filmmakers.” It’s giving me some really good support. “in pursuing a goal, the protagonist learns valuable lessons about themselves and their place in the world, and those lessons change them and may, in fact, change their desire for the goal.”
We definitely see Ken learning these lessons and changing because of those lessons. The most important lesson he learns, I believe, is that his family is the most important thing to him. He would sacrifice everything for the well-being of his family and for the creation of a healthy, happy family.
In my journal this morning, I was writing about how people like to impose their beliefs on other people. They think they have the “best way.” But there is no best way. There are no universal truths…only those we construct for ourselves…only our mini-narratives. Our film doesn’t present THE TRUTH because there is none. Only you can create your own truths. And they are just for you. That’s what the Cowboys do. What Ken does is not going to work for Dave or Mark or Cloudy.
Also, people go on about how Japanese society is all about conforming. “The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.” But there is something about Tokyo…this uber-city of conformity…it is here that Gaijin find freedom of expression. There are so many ways…even for the Japanese…look at the Tokyo Rockabilly Club, the Ko-Galu in Shibuya, the Goths in Harajuku, the Salarymen and women. Something about a sense of belonging. There is an innate sense of belonging to the city. You belong to her…no matter what you do. You are hers, and, in return, she gives you freedom and to express. She gives you opportunity. She invites you into her orgy of creation. That’s why you can’t ever get her out of your system.
I was transcribing an interview with Nice Guyjin. I asked if they ever think about leaving. “Every day,” says Dave. Since leaving Tokyo in 2000, I have thought about going back nearly every day. There was not a day that went by that I didn’t think of her, long for her…sometimes I feel like a forlorn lover.
Today, Patrick said “if we get the grant, we’ll go back. And this time we’ll stay for as long as they’ll let us.” That’s three months. Why not? Why not edit in Tokyo? I could spend three months editing there. All we need is that effing grant. We’ll know in two weeks. They make their decision on the 16th then mail out the future of our project.
