Biography
Born in Japan in 1992, Yusaku Matsumoto shot his debut feature film “Noise” at the age of 23. The film screened in multiple film festivals around the world including the 25th Raindance Film Festival in UK and the 41st Montreal World Film Festival in Canada, which was followed by a Japanese theatrical distribution in 2019 and a limited theatrical run in the US. His short film “Made in Japan” won the Audience Award, Special Jury Prize, and the Best Actor at MOOSIC LAB 2018. In his versatile career, Matsumoto has since directed many music videos, short films, commercials, as well as TV episodes for Amazon Prime and Hulu among others. His third and latest feature film “Winny” debuted in the top ten at the domestic box office in March 2023.
Filmography
~Feature films~
Winny
It’s All My Fault
Noise
~Short films~
Bagmati River
Tokyo Sunrise
Made In Japan
~TV~
Yukionna to Kani wo Kuu (TV Tokyo)
Kamisama no Ekohiiki (Hulu)
Shonan Junai Gumi! (Amazon Prime)
Nogizaka Cinemas ~STORY of 46~ (FOD)
Find them on social media
Official Profile
Twitter @kakifuraiyusaku
10+5 Questions for Yusaku Matsumoto
1. What is the first film in your memory?
Black Rain (Ridley Scott)
2. What are some of your favorite films?
BIUTIFUL (Alejandro González Iñárritu)
Princess Mononoke (Hayao Miyazaki)
Still Life (Jia Zhangke)
HANABI (Takeshi Kitano)
Sonatine (Takeshi Kitano)
3. Which creators have you been inspired by or influenced by?
Alejandro González Iñárritu
Dardenne brothers
Ken Loach
Haruki Murakami
Hayao Miyazaki
Takeshi Kitano
4. What are the films that shook your world or changed your life?
BIUTIFUL (Alejandro González Iñárritu)
L’Enfant (The Child) (Dardenne brothers)
HANABI (Takeshi Kitano)
Princess Mononoke (Hayao Miyazaki)
5. Are there any Japanese directors of your generation you are inspired by?
No one in particular.
6. What does filmmaking mean to you?
It is my whole life.
7. What are you interested in outside of films and filmmaking?
I don’t really have any. I wish I did.
8. Where’s your happy place?
A coffee shop in Shinjuku 3-chome (I can make great progress in script writing.)
9. What are the customs or phenomena that are unique to Japan that you want other people to know?
I think the scenery in Akihabara in this film is a kind of unique culture of Japan. I would be happy if you could see the film from that perspective as well.
10. Where would you be in 10 years?
I want to be making films overseas.
ABOUT YOUR FILM “NOISE“
1. What is your favorite moment in the film? (no spoilers)
The streets and scenery of Akihabara that exist in the background almost throughout the film. The scenery of the city now is drastically different from when we shot this film about 7 or 8 years ago.
2. Why did you decide to write/make this film?
The catalyst was when I was in junior high school, a friend of mine committed a suicide. Around the same time, there was the indiscriminate mass killings in Akihabara. I wondered if killing oneself and killing someone (in an indiscriminate way) could be somehow fundamentally the same. That question was the starting point of making this film.
3. Were there any films that you watched as a reference or a source of inspiration?
The films I got inspiration from include “Crash” (dir. Paul Haggis) and “21 Grams” (dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu).
I watched almost all the ensemble films out there.
4. Was there any music you were listening to or book you were reading while you were making this film?
“Save Me” by banvox, which is also the theme song for this film. A novel “Muchi no Namida” (Tears of Ignorance) by Norio Nagayama, “19-sai no Chizu” (The Nineteen-Year-Old’s Map) by Kenji Nakagami, etc.
5. Any fun behind-the-scenes anecdotes or episodes you’d like to share?
As a true independent film, there were only three main crew members. Each of us fulfilled multiple roles and wore many hats during the production.
Also, I used a lot of improvisations by the actors in almost every scene.
Message to our audience about this film
It has been seven or eight years since I shot this film. This film is inspired by the indiscriminate killings in Akihabara that took place in 2008. Why did such an incident have to happen? What could we do to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future? To look for answers to those questions, I made this film.
This is my first feature film. Looking at it now, there are many parts that I cannot help but see my inexperience, but the passion for making the film I want to make has not changed since then. It is a film that I felt absolutely compelled to make. It is a film that I had to make. I hope you will watch and enjoy it.