Why Japan fascinates Brillante Ma Mendoza as a filmmaker

Brillante Ma Mendoza in Pola, Mindoro Oriental

Award-winning filmmaker Brillante Ma Mendoza, whose movie “Gensan Punch” features a Japanese actor in the lead and was partly shot in Japan, has announced that he would be making another film project in the East Asian country soon.

Mendoza made the announcement during an episode of the “Conversation Series at Asia Lounge” as part of the recent 34th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF). The session, which also featured Japanese actor Masatoshi Nagase, carried the theme, “Making films that cross borders and heal the soul.”

Session moderator Kenji Ishizaka, TIFF senior programmer, said that crossing borders is something that both Mendoza and Nagase have experienced several times in their respective professions.

Mendoza, who has already shot two films in Japan, explained his “attraction” to the country: “I’m interested not just in Japan, but also its people. It’s interesting … how respectful the Japanese are, and the culture is amazing.”

Mendoza attended the program virtually from Pola, Mindoro Oriental, where he is filming his latest project while Ishizaka and Nagase were physically present at the venue in the garden of Tokyo Midtown Hibiya.

Still about crossing borders, Mendoza pointed out that he got to work with French actress and 2021 TIFF jury head Isabelle Huppert in the movie “Captive” in 2012. For “Gensan Punch,” he got to work with Japanese actor Shogun. “This kind of collaboration gives us new perspective in the way we work. We learn from each other. I noticed that the Japanese are very keen on details, not just the artists but the crew as well. Filipinos, meanwhile, are very industrious and work very fast.”

Enjoying the process

He further said: “When we were shooting there in Japan, one of my staff heard a Japanese say that we Filipinos laugh a lot and always have fun on the set, that it’s like we’re not serious with what we’re doing. That’s just how we work. This is allowed, especially on my set. I don’t see filmmaking as a job. I want people to have fun and enjoy the process of shooting films. I want our Japanese coworkers to appreciate that in us.”

Nagase, who has had experiences filming abroad, agreed with Mendoza. The actor crossed borders when he was younger, working on films in Southeast Asia as part of the Asian Beat Project in the 1990s, including Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

“Shooting outside Japan is really different. I don’t think we should be stuck with how we do things in Japan,” he recalled.

Nagase also shared that he was able to watch Mendoza’s “Ma’ Rosa” in 2020, when the world went into lockdown as a result of the pandemic. The film, which won for lead actress Jaclyn Jose the best actress award at the prestigious 2016 Cannes International Film Festival in France, “provided salvation for me,” said Nagase.

“I saw it at the time when some Japanese people are saying that work like mine is not needed, that what I’ve been doing all these years is no longer desired. The film is very realistic in its depiction. I learned so many things from the film, which is all about empathy. Regardless of the difference in culture, its message came across. I felt the solitude and loneliness, and then joy.”

Stepping up

Asked to share his insights into the situation of the entertainment industry in the Philippines while in a pandemic, Mendoza replied: “We are stepping up. Filipinos are choosing to rise above a bad situation such as the COVID-19 pandemic. I think our situation is the same with everyone else. The cinemas here have been closed for a long while now. Most of our artists are jobless. I also think that because of our experiences in the past, we are now starting to consider the COVID-19 issue here as simply one of the bad situations we have. We have had to deal with even harder situations in the past—typhoons are very common here. We rose above all those.

“What most Filipino artists did was try to look for other stuff to do. For instance, we are into streaming content now. We are slowly starting to make films again. I think that even the TV shows that have stopped production are already resuming work.”

Mendoza said everyone thought the health crisis would only last for a few months. “Then, people started to panic when they began losing jobs. We’ve learned to cope with the situation, even I have began to make films again. I think that’s the right thing to do. We cannot wait until the pandemic ends. Otherwise, we will just get stuck where were are now. We need to be creative as well as cautious with the way we do things from now on.”

Copresented by the Japan Foundation and TIFF, the “Conversation Series at Asia Lounge” program brought together acclaimed filmmakers from Asia and beyond to engage in friendly dialogue with their Japanese counterparts.

Mendoza’s “Gensan Punch” was featured in the TIFF’s Gala section while his action-drama “Payback” was part of the main competition category. INQ