For a More Tolerant World: Hayakawa Chie / Film Director

"Direct Talk"

Our guest today is film director Hayakawa Chie.

Her feature debut, "Plan 75,"

is a drama she wrote about

senior citizens facing choices of life and death.

It was screened in the Cannes Film Festival's

"Un Certain Regard" section

and received the "Camera d'Or Special Distinction"

as a quality first feature.

The film has made Hayakawa an international name to watch.

She shares what was going through her mind as she was making the film,

and what she hopes to convey through cinema.

For a More Tolerant World

It would mean a lot to me

if someone, somewhere saw themself in a movie that I made,

or if I could make someone realize that they're not alone.

That's the kind of movie that I want to make.

I'm always thinking about that in my work.

"Being able to decide how my life will end"

"provided me with peace of mind."

The film is about a fictional program called "Plan 75."

Set in Japan in the near future,

the government grants people age 75 and over

the right to assisted euthanasia in an effort

to remedy Japan's super-aged society.

The story centers on an elderly woman named Michi

who must choose whether she wants to live or die.

She encounters a government employee

whose job is to "sell" and promote Plan 75,

as well as counselors and caregivers employed by the program.

Each must come to terms with the gravity of the situation

and the value of life.

"I was truly..."

"blessed I was always able to chat with you."

When I was little,

there was this feeling that a long life was a good thing.

But now I get the sense that

we look at getting older in a very negative light.

I think our elderly are being made to feel belittled,

like they're unwanted.

People of all ages harbor a lot of anxiety about

what will happen when they get old.

So right now,

there's really a general feeling of unease about living a long life,

like it's something undesirable.

The film's protagonist, Michi, is 78 years old,

widowed, and living alone.

She loses her job and friends, and has no one to turn to.

With no means of survival, she begins to consider Plan 75.

The film also depicts a nursing home care-worker

from the Philippines named Maria.

Hayakawa says she wanted to include this character

for a specific reason.

With Japanese people, everyone is afraid of becoming a burden to others.

It's almost like they're under some kind of a spell.

Even when they're really in need of assistance,

they can't bring themselves to say the words "I need help."

It can be stressful and suffocating.

Meanwhile, if you look at Filipino communities,

when there's someone in need of a hand, people step in to help.

There's a sense of warmth, a human touch that speaks to the culture,

the national character.

In my film, I wanted to juxtapose that with Japanese society.

"Plan 75" made waves in Japan when it hit theaters in June 2022.

When it premiered at Cannes,

it received an applause that lasted over five minutes.

Hayakawa believes the film resonated with foreign audiences

because the themes are not exclusive to Japan.

"It's really high."

"- Very high."
"- It's painful."

There's a scene where characters are testing arm rests for benches

that are meant to deter homeless people

and others from sleeping on them.

Someone told me that

they were seeing benches like that around Paris too,

and it disgusted them.

There's this tendency to judge the value of someone's life

by whether or not they're useful to society.

Seeing the reaction to the film,

I realized that's true not just in Japan but all over the world.

Hayakawa conceived of "Plan 75" several years ago.

She first tackled the subject in an 18-minute short of the same name

that was included in the anthology film "Ten Years Japan."

"If senior citizens don't decrease, this country has no future."

The catalyst was a shocking 2016 incident

that occurred in a care facility

for people with intellectual disabilities.

A former employee went on a stabbing rampage,

killing 19 and injuring 26.

In letters and statements, he explained his belief

that severely disabled people served no use in society.

I was utterly shocked.

I thought that with society

as a whole becoming more and more intolerant,

a tragedy like that was just waiting to happen.

You have people being openly critical

of those who receive welfare payments.

And you have politicians and other prominent figures

making discriminatory statements about certain groups of people.

I'd been hearing more and more about things like that.

I felt this sense of outrage at all the intolerance.

If society were to continue down that path,

I could see a system like Plan 75 actually being created.

That's why I made this film.

When adapting her short film into a feature,

she interviewed elderly Japanese women as research.

She asked them what they thought about a system like "Plan 75."

So many of them said,

"I don't want to be a burden on my family or anyone."

"A program like Plan 75 would give me peace of mind."

My protagonist, Michi, is someone who's led a very modest life,

and tries not to be a burden on anyone.

The women that I met and interviewed in my research

had that same attitude,

this sense of dignity.

So I think I wanted to portray that

element in my protagonist in this film.

"Plan 75" is Hayakawa's debut feature as a director.

She says she set out to make a film that

reflected her view of cinema as a creative medium.

The characters that show up in the movie have lines of dialogue,

but very rarely do they voice their true feelings,

what they're feeling inside.

Some people might think that makes the film hard to understand.

But I think that intangibility draws you in,

and it sticks with you afterward.

I think one of the most rewarding things about watching a movie

is imagining how the characters on screen are feeling,

and trying to empathize with them.

So I'm conscious of that when I'm behind the camera, too, I think.

"Come on!"

Hayakawa was inspired to become a filmmaker

by the 1981 Japanese drama "Muddy River."

Its depiction of postwar poverty

and social disparity greatly influenced her view of cinema.

It was the first movie I watched

where I thought about the person who made it.

The story is about a boy.

And I just really empathized with him.

I felt like I understood him, his feelings.

And by extension,

I felt that the person who made the movie understood my feelings.

They got me.

That movie was the first time I felt that way.

I think that experience and others like it put me on the path

to wanting to make movies myself.

Hayakawa studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York.

After returning to Japan,

she divided her time between parenting, working full time,

and attending a film program at a night school.

"Aren't you scared?"

"Of what?"

"Your grandfather."

For her final project, she made the short film "Niagara,"

about a young, orphaned woman who comes to learn that

her grandfather is on death row for killing her parents.

She decides to record ambient sounds of the city to send to him.

The short was selected for screening at the Cannes Film Festival

in a category for student works.

It also won the top prize in a Japanese independent film competition,

marking a promising start to Hayakawa's career as a director.

I'd been wanting to make films,

but couldn't take that first step for the longest time.

Then, finally I committed to going to film school,

and with the friends I made there, I shot that short.

And unexpectedly, that led to a chance to shoot a feature film.

It feels incredible how things have worked out.

I'm sure there are films

that I could have made were I still in my 20s.

I've taken a big detour to get where I am now,

but looking back on it all, I'm grateful for the path I took.

"Hello?"

Hayakawa spent four years

writing and rewriting the script for "Plan 75."

It's a true labor of love.

After a screening of the film,

an audience member said something that has stayed with her.

This person said they'd thought they couldn't relate to elderly people.

But my film showed them that these people were much like they were,

that they have friends and hobbies.

This person found themself watching the movie

as if it were in fact about them.

That's the power of film.

It can give you different perspective on your reality, on your life.

It can change the way you feel about other people.

It made me happy to see that my film had that impact on the audience.

Hayakawa is currently conceptualizing her next film.

My first feature dealt primarily with social themes.

So next, I'd like to make something very personal and intimate.

A story about a family, or maybe a story with a child protagonist.

That's what I'm thinking.

(Do you have any words to live by?)

"Everything happens for reasons."

Even if you have an experience that seems negative at first,

in the long run, there's a chance it'll turn out to be a good thing,

something that works in your favor.

At least, that's what I've found in my own life.

I'm always telling myself that it'll all work out.