Inspirations

About a year and a half ago, when the screenplay for Layover, on the Shore wasn't much more than a page of notes on the back of my journal, I watched a film by Japanese filmmaker Nobuhiro Suwa called H Story—and it changed everything.

H Story is a film about Hiroshima, Suwa's home. Suwa plays himself, a director, who is making a film about Hiroshima by making a shot-by-shot remake of Alain Renais’ classic Hiroshima Mon Amour.



Quickly though, his remake begins to fall apart.

Suwa and his actress, Beatrice Dalle, engage in constant arguments, as Dalle becomes more and more detached and disinterested in the failing production.

Then one morning, in a rage, Dalle walks off set.

Outside, she calms herself down by sharing a cigarette with an on-set Japanese writer. The moment seems inconsequential, but soon we find ourselves watching a blossoming romance between this French actress and this Japanese writer, as they wander the streets of Hiroshima together. By the end of H Story, Suwa’s failed remake is recuperated as a romance in contemporary Hiroshima and ends up being, strangely enough, a successful remake of the original.

It blew my mind. It was one of the most inspiring films I'd seen in a long time, and one of the best cases I’d ever seen of a filmmaker trying to negotiate the idea of his home with the reality of his home.

H Story asked, How does one make a film about a place, when the idea of the place overshadows the reality of the place?

Suwa’s answer was to show how he cannot make a film about the idea of his home, and yet cannot escape making a film about the idea of his home.

Everyone should try to check out this wonderful movie.

Chris

Home and Away

before producing layover, on the shore at full speed,
i went back to Chongqing, China this summer,
my birthplace and a city like an old friend.

Chongqing is a city of two rivers
and a few dozen bridges
muddy waters carry boats, cargo and centuries of strife
white thick mists creep across green mountains and gray highrises
hiding other worlds that disappear when the sun bakes the earth.

when i was in Chongqing, i dreamed of Los Angeles
i dreamed of my little apartment in Ktown,
my little balcony, Wilshire and Western, the sunset on the 10
and when i'm in Los Angeles
i dream of Vancouver who raised me
my old room with the blue corduroy curtains,
the crisp light, mountainview cemetery and cedar forests.

layover, on the shore - to me is about this idea of home, about the characters' relationship to home. and undeniably, it's about chris' relationship to Hawai'i. i don't know, but i imagine it's a place that is buried deep inside. as chris changes and grows, Hawai'i is changing and growing too - not just as an island on earth, but inside of him too. as a producer on layover, i feel i am a part of this intimate relationship, a relationship that struggles to heal an odd chasm: our bodies are always in the present but our mind almost never is.

Yu