This year at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, a special program titled 'Koki Mitani's Life Theater' will showcase the world of Koki Mitani, a master of Japanese comedy who has spread laughter across various media including film, theater, and TV. This is an unmissable opportunity to see his representative work <Wonderful Nightmare> (2011) along with unreleased films in Korea such as <Galaxy Road> (2015) and <I Don't Remember> (2019) on the big screen, as well as a masterclass where you can hear directly about Mitani's philosophy and methodology of laughter. Before the masterclass, we will take a look back at the world of Koki Mitani's works.
Who is the director that made the funniest movie in Japan recently? We cannot overlook Shinichiro Ueda of <Don't Stop the Camera!> (2017). The reason I bring up Ueda to explain Koki Mitani is that during an interview with the genius comic director, I naturally asked him about the directors who influenced him, and he mentioned Koki Mitani among Japanese directors after Quentin Tarantino and Wes Anderson. Ah! The fresh yet familiar laughter from the chaotic comedy <Don't Stop the Camera!> stems from the collective memory of laughter experienced by fans of 90s Japanese cinema.
That brings us to the legendary comedy farce <Welcome Mr. McDonald> (1997). This film, depicting the chaotic happenings during a live radio broadcast, borrowed the framework of classic Hollywood comedies and combined it with the unique characteristics of Japanese people in a limited radio studio setting. It had a significant influence on Korean comedy films even before Ueda, and it is not an exaggeration to say that there was no term to introduce this type of film before Mitani, which could only be seen in classic Hollywood films. Moreover, compared to classic comic farces by Billy Wilder such as <Sunset Boulevard> (1950) or <Some Like It Hot> (1959), Mitani's farces are characterized by an incredibly fast pace that can leave you breathless, along with a substantial amount of witty dialogue from a diverse range of characters, making it a more modernized farce. To summarize, it can be described as a world that combines the structure of Billy Wilder with characters from Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie films, completed with human comedy reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin.
When analyzing the 'setting values' of Mitani's world limited to film, it looks like this. If <Welcome Mr. McDonald> was an observational piece about human types set in a radio station, <The Uchōten Hotel> (2006) depicts the chaotic interactions between the staff and guests at a hotel before the New Year. The possibilities for introducing this framework are endless. Anywhere with a limited space can be prepared for a Mitani-style farce. For example, if it goes to court, it becomes the absurd comedy <Wonderful Nightmare> (2011), combining a murder case with a ghost, and if it opens a hamburger shop in space, it becomes the bizarre yet unique Mitani-style sci-fi <Galaxy Road> (2015), where various aliens gather. If it satirizes the corrupt Japanese political scene, it becomes a political comedy farce like <I Don't Remember> (2019), targeting the Prime Minister, the cabinet, and the media.
Creating situations where characters cannot move. This leads to lies, and those lies bring about bigger lies, ultimately capturing the moment when the protagonist gets lost in the situation and self-destructs. Through ironic happenings, it unravels the diverse duality of humans and the structural contradictions of groups. The three-stage development typical of Mitani's works can be seen in all of Koki Mitani's films following his representative work <Welcome Mr. McDonald>. A characteristic of his works is that during the chaos, humanity, which is often lacking, is restored, culminating in a humanistic conclusion, which is why they are called 'warm farces.' For instance, <I Don't Remember> tells the story of a corrupt Prime Minister who, after being hit by a stone thrown by a citizen, suffers from amnesia and forgets that he is a bad person, leading to his redemption. This type of film, which lies in the lineage of Jim Carrey's <Yes Man> (2008) or Rami Ran's <Honest Candidate> series, cannot overlook Mitani's significant influence. Regarding this foundation of humanism, he once explained, "I try to portray the honest aspects of the people around me in my films. At the core of that is 'laughter.' I believe that comedy is when humans can only laugh at other humans. Because I express such humans, I can make people laugh, but on the other hand, human existence is also sad and lonely, so I cannot help but include that aspect as well."
In fact, it is impossible to explain the broad world of Mitani's humor limited to films. He has worked across various media, including <Welcome Mr. McDonald>, <The Uchōten Hotel>, <Magic Hour> (2008), <Galaxy Road>, <I Don't Remember>, as well as plays like <University of Laughter>, <If I'm with You>, and dramas like <Furuhata Ninzaburo>, <The King's Restaurant>, <Shinsengumi!>, and <Sanada Maru>. While the film industry may want to claim him as a representative director, when it comes to the theater stage, he is interpreted as a director whose creative roots lie in theater, and in TV series such as historical dramas and crime shows, he produces intricate series that reflect the expertise of those fields, continuously releasing works that are recognized for both box office success and artistic quality. Moreover, in addition to his work as a writer and director, he is a regular on variety shows alongside Takeshi Kitano, and this side job is surprisingly one of his main activities.
Since his debut as a writer in the 1986 drama <Super Girl! Haruhi Wonder Love>, he has maintained a superhero-level creative schedule for nearly 40 years, writing films when he is not writing dramas, writing plays when he is not writing films, and appearing on broadcasts in his spare time. While he is often referred to as a 'genius writer,' the amount of effort and labor that surpasses genius is necessary to produce this level of work, and he is still updating his filmography. The core keyword that allows him to manage all of this without tiring, crossing the boundaries of film, television, theater, and media, is 'laughter.' "I have never once thought of a work without laughter. I always think about how I can make people laugh," says director Koki Mitani, who cannot be explained without laughter in the genealogy of Japanese cinema.
After <Wonderful Nightmare>, actress Eri Fukatsu, who has been collaborating with the 'Mitani Group,' stated, "There are almost no comedy films in Japan, so I thought I wanted to try it. I wanted to understand what comedy is," revealing that working with him is a shortcut to the world of comedy. This unique comedic worldview makes it possible for an incredible ensemble of actors to star in Mitani's works, with many prominent Japanese actors such as Koichi Sato, Takashi Kobayashi, Shingo Katori, Satoshi Tsumabuki, and Yoneko Matsugane eagerly lining up to participate, even if they are given small roles in his films. He is known for not meeting or socializing outside of work, and despite his reserved personality, he does not lose the ability to gather actors and staff solely based on the characteristics of the work without starting from or adding personal connections.
To add one more element that perfectly matches his creativity based on diligence and sincerity, Koki Mitani's name, Koki (幸喜), was derived from his father, who was a sumo wrestler, naming him after the sumo wrestler Taiho Koki, where Koki means 'happiness and joy.' Interestingly, it is not an exaggeration to say that his name itself describes the style and core elements of his works.
Finally, I recall a moment from a few years ago when I met Mitani. During a busy schedule in Korea, I remember him being curious about the fast typing of journalists and asking about it for a long time. I wondered how he could create so many diverse characters with almost no original material, and he said he enjoys 'observing people' and gets ideas for his works from there. "I think a lot about what makes people laugh, and in the end, people laugh at other people. They laugh through the gestures, tones, and words that people use."
Mitani has articulated his philosophy of laughter through his works. One of his representative works, the play <University of Laughter>, seriously delves into the function of 'laughter.' In a world where censorship prevails and comedy is prohibited, a censor who prevents the writer from writing a comic play interrogates the writer for a week and eventually says, "I had no idea such a funny world existed until now. I couldn't stop laughing for a week." The laughter that the writer has maintained ultimately changes the censor's values and can become a catalyst for changing the world. Like a laughter therapist who does not forget the naive belief that laughter can heal the world, he unfolds the positive functions of laughter in every work.
It is not an exaggeration to say that in the distant future, if Japan's national director Mitani were to disappear from the Japanese film industry, it would face a crisis of 'losing laughter.' This is why we still await Mitani's kind farces in the current trend where provocative content dominates.
<Wonderful Nightmare>
8th 16:30 CGV Soopong Hall 5 Code 521
10th 19:30 CGV Soopong Hall 6 Code 731
<Galaxy Road>
7th 20:00 CGV Soopong Hall 9 Code 435
<I Don't Remember>
7th 13:00 Korean Comic Museum (Masterclass) Code 412
10th 14:00 Bucheon City Hall Oulmadang Code 708
