I was surprised to see how much he had changed in appearance. Well, both of us had changed. Anyway, we could meet after a 30 year interval.
Usually, I would take such a “celebrity” to a fancy restaurant. But he wanted to go to a “hidden local pub.” Honestly, as I am not much of a drinker, this task was too much for me. Fortunately, there was an “izakaya” pub near my house that just looked like it. So I decided to go there. When he entered the pub, I was relieved to see that he loved it.
Thirty-year interval is long enough; We have a lot to talk about. I do not find myself particularly good at organizing things. But I was able to find several photos at home which were taken when we worked together 30 years ago. So I brought them with me.
When I showed them to him one by one, he did not clearly remember the details of each photo, and he said, “Oh, what was this teacher’s name?” My brain tends to remember things that are not so important, which helped us this time. “This teacher is Mr. O, this is Ms. K in the office, and this student is Mr. T. ……” There was a picture in which two of them were taken together. “Now let’s take a before-and-after photo!” He took a selfie of the two in the same pose as the old picture.
He explained not only the fun of filmmaking but also its difficulty. Because we only see films in theaters, so hearing about the hardships from the filmmakers themselves makes it all the more real.
“I’ve been looking forward to seeing you today,” he began, “but I have other purposes. One of them is about something you said to me a long time ago. You saw my work on some occasion and said, ‘Mr. E, your work is wonderful, but the vectors are inward. You have to turn them outward. I had never heard anyone say that to me before, so it was shocking. I had never forgotten that. I’ve always thought I had to turn outward. That’s what I wanted to say!”
I couldn’t believe that I would say such a thing to a man I respected, but he was adamant that I had said it. I said, “Sorry for my misbehavior.” “No, I’m grateful. I came to tell you that. And I have another purpose,” he said, making himself a glass of awamori soda.