The Far East Apartment / 極東のマンション  by Tetsuya Mariko. 2003, Japan, Super 8 transferred to digital video, 32 min., Japanese with English subtitles. A man who wants to express himself on film takes on the challenge of more extreme production in order to smash his ego.

The Far East Apartment is the first film in a two-part series of Super 8, autobiographical shorts by Tetsuya Mariko. The series explores his dreams as a then-student filmmaker, inventing alternate worlds on his university campus and in his cramped apartment. 

What are some common themes throughout your work?

“The word somaticity is sometimes said, the state of being in or having a body. Whether the film is dynamic or static, I think the main thing I’m trying to accomplish is that moment when the viewer reacts through body and emotions rather than with logic. That’s a great thing. Especially nowadays, there are a lot of films that deal with violence, so I'm very careful with the sound because it's an effective way of directly reaching the viewer's emotions. That's why I'm trying to figure out how to set the reality for the film, and whether or not the viewer will be able to take it as their own, no matter how ridiculous it is.”

Who are some of your artistic influences?

“When I was young, I saw Julien Donkey-Boy by Harmony Korine at the movie theater. I also saw his debut film, Gummo, and I began to read his books from the United States, which had not yet been released in Japan. To be honest, I didn't really understand what the book was saying, but I was impressed. Especially in Gummo, the American landscape depicted in the film seemed to be closer to the American landscape that I actually saw with my own eyes, rather than the landscape from Hollywood blockbusters, which made me feel closer to the film.”

Do you have a filmmaking philosophy?

“It's just film, but it's film.

Mariko's 30 Pirates / マリコ三十騎 by Tetsuya Mariko. 2004, Japan, Super 8 transferred to digital video, 23 min., Japanese with English subtitles. At the turn of a new era, the film pays homage to the decaying university student hall and 8mm film.

Mariko's 30 Pirates is the second film in a two-part series of Super 8, autobiographical shorts by Tetsuya Mariko. The series explores his dreams as a then-student filmmaker, inventing alternate worlds on his university campus and in his cramped apartment.

Does this film series have a name? What's it about?

It's not meant to be a series. However, these two films were shot at around the same time and both have in common that myself, "Tetsuya Mariko" the creator of the film, appears in them. But after seeing the reaction of people who saw The Far East Apartment, I tried to give a completely different impression to Mariko's 30 Pirates by using the same technique. I actually have more shorts shot this way and they all share one thing in common that "Tetsuya Mariko" plays different characters in each film.

What is your filmmaking process like?

These two films were self-directed films, so they were shot on a very flexible schedule. In the beginning, I didn't have a script; I would shoot a scene that came to mind, develop that film, and then I’d shoot the scene that would come before. As I didn't have a crew, I asked a friend who lived nearby to press the camera release cable for me when I was in the shot. Since the 8mm couldn't record the sound at the same time, I had to create the story later. Therefore, the monologue became a character, and that was why I pushed my belly and used my own voice during the recording.

What are you working on now?

I had a short film scheduled to be shot in Chicago at the end of April this year, the script was almost ready but shooting was halted due to COVID-19. Now that the scenery and human feelings have changed, I'm revisiting the script and thinking about what kind of film it should be. There are other plots that I've been writing about because this global phase affects everything, but I think we need to stop and face them calmly again when adapting.

Born in Tokyo in 1981, MARIKO’S early self-produced shorts, The Far East Apartment and Mariko’s 30 Pirates won awards at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival and the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen while he was a student at Hosei University. 

Upon graduation, he entered the Graduate School of Film and New Media at Tokyo University of the Arts, where he produced his first feature film, Yellow Kid, which won several awards, including the New Director Grand Prix at Takasaki Film Festival and the New Directors Award presented by the Japanese Film Professionals Awards. His 2016 feature Destruction Babies received numerous awards internationally, including the Golden Leopard for Best New Director at the Locarno Film Festival and the Silver Balloon at the Three Continents Festival, as well as in Japan, winning six awards at the Yokohama Film Festival. His latest feature Miyamoto received the award for the best actor prize at the Nikkan Sports Film Awards, the Blue Ribbon awards, and the Takasaki Film Festival.

In 2019, he was invited as a visiting scholar at the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University in the United States. During his stay, he has engaged himself in the special lectures at Harvard University and served as a jury for the international competition program at the 55th Chicago International Film Festival.

 This work was presented as part of SHORTS FROM UNDERGROUND, a weekly curated series that highlights boundary-pushing filmmakers from around the world.