In the bustling streets of Tokyo, a taxi driver's life takes a dark turn following a personal tragedy, leading him down a path of madness. He begins to stalk and brutally murder young women, driven by a twisted desire to find a worthy victim. This intense psychological thriller delves into the mind of a serial killer, offering a chilling viewing experience.
maniac-driver thriller horror crime tokyo psychological serial-killer unrated-film
#ManiacDriver #FullMovie #PsychologicalThriller #TokyoCrime
maniac-driver thriller horror crime tokyo psychological serial-killer unrated-film
#ManiacDriver #FullMovie #PsychologicalThriller #TokyoCrime
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PeopleTranscript
00:00:00Hello, my name is Kurando Mitsutake. I'm the director-writer of this movie, Maniac Driver.
00:00:07Thank you very much for purchasing this Blu-ray DVD, and thank you for tuning in to my audio commentary.
00:00:18So here we go, the movie has started.
00:00:20This traveling shot of the wall, this is definitely my direct tribute to a maestro, Mr. Dario Argento's Tenebrae.
00:00:36That movie has some amazing traveling shot across the house, across the roof of the beautiful house and everything.
00:00:50And I wanted to definitely open my giallo in a similar way.
00:00:56So here we are, we just did the traveling shot of the wall.
00:01:01Now we see this beautiful Japanese woman, you know, taking a shower.
00:01:09And this is our part of our opening credit.
00:01:15This shower location was really a funky location.
00:01:23It was actually outdoor.
00:01:27And so this shower room actually has no roof.
00:01:33It exists on top of a building in the right outskirt of Tokyo.
00:01:40And we loved the location, and I thought we can do some really interesting drone shot and stuff like that.
00:01:48But unfortunately, when we shot this sequence, it started to rain.
00:01:54And see, like, now we see the sky.
00:01:57The sky is pure black.
00:01:59That's not just the black ceiling.
00:02:01That's actually black sky of Tokyo.
00:02:05Anyway, so it was raining.
00:02:07So, of course, the shower sequence didn't matter.
00:02:12You know, the actress is going to get wet anyhow.
00:02:16So, the rain didn't really bother the sequence itself, but we had all this lighting equipment and everything.
00:02:26And, you know, man, this is actually one of my favorite shots of the movie.
00:02:33Here is the full-face motorcycle helmet guy standing behind the wall with the menacing knife.
00:02:42That's very giallo to me.
00:02:44And anyhow, so this location was pouring rain.
00:02:51And amazing Japanese film crew, they are so used to dealing with ever-changing weather all the time.
00:03:01So, they had the perfect rain gear.
00:03:06Without, you know, prior notice from the production saying, hey, please bring your rain gear.
00:03:13They just have it.
00:03:14They just have it to begin with because they're just all so prepared for everything.
00:03:20So, you know, I'm a Japanese filmmaker who lives in L.A.
00:03:26And I've done six feature films so far.
00:03:31And Maniac Driver is my fifth feature.
00:03:35But this was my very first movie to shoot entirely in Tokyo.
00:03:43And I was really looking for it.
00:03:45See this?
00:03:45You see the water on the helmet?
00:03:47That's not the shower water.
00:03:49That's actually rain water on the helmet.
00:03:52So, you know, but I've done all my films in L.A.
00:03:57So, this was actually my first time working with a Japanese crew for the entire movie.
00:04:05I've done, for my fourth feature, Karate Kill, I had a little bit of Tokyo sequence.
00:04:10And I worked with, you know, Tokyo film crew.
00:04:15But Maniac Driver was my first entire movie shot in Tokyo.
00:04:22But, you know, just see this, how prepared they were for all the weather, all the condition.
00:04:28And this pouring rain didn't stop them to get the shot and everything.
00:04:34Unfortunately, we had to drop the drone shot.
00:04:38But that was the only thing that I had to compromise.
00:04:42Thanks to my amazing Japanese crew, everything was shot accordingly.
00:04:49And the amazing, despite the pouring rain, the opening shower sequence, to me, is looking fabulous.
00:04:57It's amazing.
00:05:00Here we are.
00:05:01We are looking at this Maniac Driver, who is a taxi driver in Tokyo.
00:05:06His car.
00:05:07And his car, his car company, taxi company, is Reimu Taxi.
00:05:14It's a play on the word.
00:05:16Of course, lame is English word for uncool and stuff like that.
00:05:23So I wanted to play that word onto this taxi company, Lame Taxi, Reim Taxi.
00:05:30And, you know, Japanese government just put a new name for this new coming era from back in 2019.
00:05:43It's called Reiwa.
00:05:49Wherever we have new emperor, we have new name for this era.
00:05:54Prior to Reiwa, it was Heisei.
00:05:59And before that, it was Showa.
00:06:01But right now, we have Reiwa and new emperor.
00:06:07Reiwa emperor is in charge.
00:06:12But anyhow, so I kind of wanted to, you know, play a word game with this new era we have in Japan, Reiwa.
00:06:23And I thought Reiwa is pretty lame.
00:06:26So I, you know, turned into Lame Taxi.
00:06:30Lame, you know, stuff.
00:06:34So anyway, so that's the reasoning behind the name of the taxi company.
00:06:40We're looking at this beautiful, beautiful Japanese automobile from the 80s.
00:06:45Nissan President.
00:06:49It looks amazing, doesn't it?
00:06:51The front grill looks like a, it looks like a Go Nagai's manga, you know, Majinga Zet.
00:06:59You know, front grill looks, reminds me of that robot face.
00:07:03And it's a beautiful automobile.
00:07:05And it's probably one of my favorite Japanese automobile.
00:07:11And my amazing Lime producer, Ando-san, was able to get this picture car for us.
00:07:20I mean, I just, I just love it.
00:07:22I think having Nissan President for this movie wolfed up the production value.
00:07:28And also, you know, it's symbolic because at this time, back in 2019, you know, this is prior to the pandemic.
00:07:41So we just didn't have the, this catastrophe, this pandemic in our hands.
00:07:51And, you know, our main concern back then were the, you know, Trump America and Abe Japan.
00:08:01So, you know, the president was the enemy.
00:08:04The prime minister was the enemy.
00:08:06So I thought it was really appropriate for our villain, our maniac driver, to be driving a car called a president.
00:08:17Anyway, anyhow, you know, this, this movie is Giallo.
00:08:23Giallo, basically, it's an Italian horror subgenre, you know, serial murderer killing beautiful women.
00:08:35That's basic premise of the subgenre, subgenre, Giallo.
00:08:42And I wanted to make a Japanese version of it.
00:08:47Back in 2010 or 2009, I toured around the world film festivals with my feature film called Samurai Avenger.
00:09:05And that was my second feature, but with Samurai Avenger, I went to many film festivals in the world.
00:09:14And I went to some French film festivals and some European festivals, some American festivals.
00:09:23You know, at that time in Europe, I was seeing, I started to see this kind of rise of neo-Giallos.
00:09:33You know, a lot of different filmmakers were doing kind of this new Giallo for new generation, you know, neo-Giallo kind of thing.
00:09:45And when I saw it, when I saw it back in 2010, I was like, oh, wow, you know, Giallo's going to come back.
00:09:53Something like Argento, something like, you know, Fulch is making a comeback.
00:09:58I definitely want to do a Giallo, and I thought if I were to do Giallo, I wanted to do it in Japan, you know, using Japanese actors and Japanese actresses.
00:10:13And, you know, it took me a while, but, you know, my neck driver materialized, and I was able to shoot my own Giallo.
00:10:28And I'm very happy about that.
00:10:30And this was actually, this movie was actually set to be a Japanese Pink Eiga.
00:10:38Pink Eiga is this Japanese movie subgenre that is sexy, softcore porn feature films.
00:10:48And as long as it has the sexy content, you know, filmmakers have much freedom to create or say anything they want to say.
00:11:03You know, so some of the Pink Eiga in Japan are, you know, commentary on politics or gender issues or quite possibly minority issue or, you know, social justice issues, stuff like that.
00:11:20So, you know, so Pink Eiga, although it's a softcore porn subgenre, most of the times it contains kind of a raw statements from different filmmakers.
00:11:35And that attracted me to do Pink Eiga and make it a horror movie, make it a Giallo movie, and make some kind of a, you know, political statement that I was feeling at this time.
00:11:52And, but this Pink Eiga company that was producing this movie, you know, like six days before the shoot said, no political statement.
00:12:05You can't not put your political vision, your statement in the movie at all, whatsoever.
00:12:11So I said, well, wait a minute, that's not, that's not why I signed up to do a Pink Eiga for you.
00:12:18Uh, that's quite different from my understanding of what Pink Eiga are.
00:12:26And, uh, so my producer, uh, Mami Akari and I, uh, we were, you know, we were, uh, really, um, desperate.
00:12:39We were, we were really sad, uh, that, uh, this Pink Eiga that we were set out to, uh, make, uh, you know,
00:12:47the studio said, we can't make any statement, uh, basically we felt like our fangs were, uh, taken out.
00:12:55And, uh, um, so I said, I don't want to do this anymore.
00:13:00I want to quit.
00:13:01Uh, but my producer, my amazing producer, Miss Akari said, well, if we cancel now, six days before the shoot,
00:13:11I have to pay the cancellation fee to all the crew and actors, why don't I just front the money?
00:13:19Why don't I finance the movie?
00:13:21And, uh, we just carry on.
00:13:23You do the movie.
00:13:24So with her amazing proposal, uh, we were able to do the movie as I wanted to do it.
00:13:35Uh, you know, as, as an independent movie and, uh, I'm, I'm in forever debt, uh, with Mami Akari
00:13:45for her brave decision to let me do this movie.
00:13:50And, um, yeah, so, uh, you know, part of the finance, uh, most of the finance came from her,
00:13:58but we asked also my, um, amazing friend, um, Mr. Mario Fukuda for some financial help.
00:14:07And, uh, that's why he became the, uh, uh, producing partner with Mami, uh, to finance this movie.
00:14:16So I'm really forever grateful for, uh, Mami and Mario, uh, for letting me do this, uh, movie, Maniac Driver.
00:14:25So, anyway, um, we have this beautiful shot of Tokyo Tower, uh, and, uh, a little bit
00:14:33of a fight scene here.
00:14:35Uh, this actor, Mr. Keisaku Kimura, uh, playing this thuggy Yakuza-ish guy, uh, drunk passenger,
00:14:45taxi passenger, he is, um, amazing actor.
00:14:50I wanted to work with him for over a decade, and, uh, finally, uh, Maniac Driver, uh, gave
00:15:00us, uh, a chance to work together.
00:15:03And, uh, since, you know, probably this is not your first time watching the movie, so I'm
00:15:10just, I'm going to disclose a secret here.
00:15:13Uh, please hang on for this big reveal of the secret.
00:15:20So, uh, here we are, we have this, uh, to me, this, uh, it's one of my favorite characters
00:15:27in the movie, this naked killer, nude killer with, uh, biker helmet.
00:15:34Um, this is actually Mr. Keisaku Kimura 2.
00:15:41Uh, so Keisaku played, uh, two characters in the movie.
00:15:45Uh, one is the Yakuza in a taxi, uh, Yakuza passenger in a taxi is Keisaku, and also, he
00:15:55played this nude helmet killer.
00:15:59Uh, and, uh, he's, he's really, uh, buck naked here.
00:16:04Uh, he's full frontal nude, and, uh, um, just the only thing that covered his general,
00:16:11genital area is the flashlight.
00:16:13And, uh, such a brave performance.
00:16:16And, uh, you know, not many, uh, actors are willing to do the, uh, um, you know, full frontal
00:16:25nudity, especially male actors, you know, they, they, they, you know, we, we certainly
00:16:31have, uh, many stigmas about male nudity, so not many, um, uh, male actors are brave enough
00:16:39to do the full frontal, but, uh, and also, you know, of course, you know, Keisaku-san
00:16:44hesitated a little bit, uh, when I asked them if it's possible for him to play this character
00:16:50completely nude, and he was like, well, you know, I started to get some kind of a major
00:16:56commercial roles lately, and the big companies, you know, they have problem with me playing
00:17:02the nude characters in the different movies, blah, blah, blah, and we were on the phone,
00:17:07and, uh, then, you know, he said, but you know what?
00:17:11Screw it.
00:17:12I'll do it.
00:17:13I love the idea of the butt naked helmet killer.
00:17:18I'm gonna do it.
00:17:19I wanna do it.
00:17:20You know, what a brave actor, you know, Keisaku-san, I love you, uh, your, your brave performance
00:17:27really is, um, you know, created this signature look for Maniac Driver, so thank you so much
00:17:34for your amazing performance, um, to, uh, play this, uh, naked, naked killer in, in Maniac
00:17:43Driver.
00:17:44Talk about amazing actor.
00:17:46Here he is, uh, another, uh, another Kimura.
00:17:49Uh, we have two Kimuras in this movie.
00:17:53Tomoki Kimura, the star of Maniac Driver.
00:17:56He's an amazing actor.
00:17:59He's, uh, man, you know, uh, without his performance, I couldn't have done this movie.
00:18:06I'm gonna talk more about him later, but let's talk about Miss Iori Kogawa here, our heroine
00:18:13of the movie.
00:18:14A beautiful, beautiful Japanese actress.
00:18:18Um, she is, uh, uh, she is actually, uh, uh, top billing Japanese porn actress.
00:18:27Uh, and, uh, uh, she sometimes does the, you know, uh, movies, uh, like this.
00:18:35And, uh, uh, uh, we were, uh, lucky enough to have, uh, Miss Kogawa, uh, to play the heroine
00:18:44in, uh, in this movie.
00:18:46And, uh, man, you know, her, her powerhouse performance, uh, right here, uh, poor, um,
00:18:54poor woman getting drowned to, drowned to death.
00:18:57Um, she actually, uh, has a fear of water.
00:19:02Uh, and this, uh, when we, this shoot, she was really kind of stressed out.
00:19:08She was really fearful, um, you know, that she's gonna have to, uh, lay in, uh, lay down
00:19:15in a tub full of water.
00:19:17Uh, you know, of course the water wasn't too hot.
00:19:20I mean, um, it's, it's, it's really a challenging condition for her to, uh, do this, uh, torture
00:19:27scene.
00:19:28Um, but, uh, she braved, uh, she braved it and she gave us this beautiful, very giallo-esque,
00:19:37uh, death face at the end of the movie.
00:19:40So, it's, uh, it's, it's amazing and I'm, I love, uh, Miss, uh, Kogawa Iori's performance
00:19:49in this movie.
00:19:51Um, yeah, such a torture, torturous, uh, sequence here.
00:19:56And, of course, the amazing heavy metal music is by this band called Aiming High.
00:20:04Uh, I love Aiming High, uh, this, you know, I fell in love with their music a while ago.
00:20:12I really wanted to, uh, you know, feature their music in my movie and, uh, my dream came true
00:20:20in Maniac Driver.
00:20:21Also, the front person for the band Aiming High, uh, Yasuhiro Kawaguchi-san, uh, he actually
00:20:30scored the movie.
00:20:32Um, you know, uh, Kawaguchi-san's music is just so amazing.
00:20:39It's, uh, you know, uh, you know, Italian horror movies, uh, giallo, um, you know, one
00:20:47of the main characters for, for this genre, uh, is definitely music, theme music.
00:20:55If you think about any of Fulci movies or Argento movies, you cannot forget their soundtrack.
00:21:02Um, the music is really the vital, vital part of the, uh, giallo genre.
00:21:10And, of course, Maniac Driver, I wanted to have the best score possible.
00:21:15And, uh, uh, Yasuhiro Kawaguchi delivered just that.
00:21:21You know, I love all the score, uh, in the movie.
00:21:25And, uh, I believe, uh, the Blu-ray DVD set you've purchased, uh, came with the soundtrack
00:21:33CD.
00:21:34Uh, please enjoy it.
00:21:36I mean, I would love to have this soundtrack CD.
00:21:39Uh, this is, you really, uh, you know, I, I'm a, I'm a big soundtrack collector and, uh,
00:21:47I love soundtrack musics.
00:21:48And, uh, and, uh, you know, I, I take pride in producing, uh, all the soundtrack musics for
00:21:56my movies, but, uh, definitely Maniac Driver, I have to say, um, is one of my, uh, favorite,
00:22:05favorite, uh, uh, soundtrack.
00:22:08Um, the, uh, um, so let's talk about, uh, a little bit of, uh, a little bit about our
00:22:18leading man, uh, Mr. Tomoki Kimura.
00:22:23Uh, he is, uh, amazing Japanese up-and-coming actor.
00:22:29Um, I think you will, you will see, uh, him more and more in different Japanese, uh, Japanese
00:22:38movies.
00:22:39Here he is flipping off the, uh, Japanese, uh, Tokyo, Tokyo City Hall.
00:22:46This gigantic building is a city hall, Tokyo City Hall.
00:22:50I mean, just, I mean, you know, no doubt there's, like, so many corruption, right?
00:22:56I mean, look at this gigantic building.
00:22:59I mean, no sane person will build this, and no sane politics will greenlight building something
00:23:06like this.
00:23:07Anyway, to me, that's symbol of kind of an evil politics, and I think I'm not wrong.
00:23:13Anyway, um, Tomoki is an amazing actor who, you know, just all the movie directors out
00:23:22there in Japan love, love, love him, and, uh, everybody wants to work with him.
00:23:29He is, he's bound to be a huge star in Japan very, very, very soon.
00:23:35So, anyway, he's, uh, uh, we met in this, uh, uh, Japanese film festival called Yubari
00:23:42Film Festival, and we became, uh, great friends, and, uh, ever since then, I wanted to work
00:23:48with him, and, uh, Manic Driver, when I, you know, conceived the idea for the movie,
00:23:56I was like, holy, holy shit, I have to offer this to Tomoki, and if he can play the main
00:24:05character, that's it, you know, that, this, that, that's going to make it a great movie,
00:24:09and, uh, I was lucky enough to get him, and he played the main character, Fuji Naga, the
00:24:17psycho guy perfectly, um, you know, this is, uh, obviously, this is ultra, ultra low budget
00:24:25movie, um, you know, we didn't have the luxury of the picture car and, uh, camera car, you
00:24:34know, the camera car couldn't pull the, pull the, uh, picture car and stuff like that.
00:24:39Right here, uh, you know, I'm crammed into the passenger seat, and the cameraman, my cameraman
00:24:49is in the back seat shooting this, um, I mean, it's, it's a tight quarter, you know, and, um,
00:24:57so, you know, Tomoki had to act and drive the taxi in the busy streets of Tokyo, uh, on his
00:25:06own, no accident, no, any dangerous moments whatsoever, he's amazing driver, amazing actor,
00:25:16he's doing it all together, here, here it is, beautiful Kabukicho in Shinjuku, this is
00:25:22the real Kabukicho, the nightlife town in Japan, and, uh, uh, we were able to get this shot,
00:25:29uh, thanks to Tomoki's amazing driving ability and the acting ability, it just, that whole
00:25:38sequence, I love it, you know, it's just, you can't, you can't really believe this low
00:25:43budget of a movie got the shot like this, um, all of a sudden, movie changes the tone into
00:25:52this kind of, uh, uh, you know, uh, Japanese swordplay samurai movie kind of thing, and
00:25:59it's a jello lighting samurai movie, I love it, this is something I, you know, when I came
00:26:06up with the idea for the movie, just popped into my head, and I really wanted to do this,
00:26:12unfortunately, uh, Maniac Driver, uh, you know, because of the pandemic and everything, uh, and
00:26:19also, I believe, this kind of a cleansing, bullshit cleansing of the, uh, a lot of film festivals
00:26:26politically had lately, um, unfortunately, Maniac Driver didn't, uh, uh, get played, uh,
00:26:34in many film festivals, because, uh, this, you know, probably those, uh, programmers of
00:26:41those, uh, lame film festivals thought, um, this was a sexist movie, because, uh, male
00:26:49killer, uh, attacking, uh, female victims, but, you know, they just didn't see the, uh,
00:26:56context underneath it, it's a statement about Trump America and Abe Japan, you know, when
00:27:03the assholes are in charge, assholes, other assholes walk freely, you know, that's, that,
00:27:11the bad guys walk free, you know, that was my statement, and, uh, you know, those, uh, timid
00:27:18little film festival people, they just saw the surface level political, political collect
00:27:25correctness, and, uh, um, you know, they didn't select this movie in, in their, in their film
00:27:32festivals, but anyhow, um, the, uh, the sword fight sequence, I, I thought it would get the big
00:27:40laughs at, uh, uh, film festivals around the world, um, but unfortunately, uh, with the,
00:27:48uh, political, political cleanseness, uh, that's happening in the general film festival,
00:27:54and also, also, of course, the, with the pandemic, uh, I didn't get to travel abroad to show this
00:28:02movie to different audience, and, uh, share the laughter together, but, uh, hopefully, with
00:28:08this, uh, uh, Japanese sword fight sequence that pops out, out of nowhere, is giving you,
00:28:16the viewers, good laughter, um, this, uh, uh, this female victim here is Aisayama-san, um,
00:28:28she is another, uh, Japanese top billing porn star, uh, beautiful, beautiful, uh, woman, um,
00:28:38I just loved working with her, she is such a, uh, pleasure to work with, um, she's a total
00:28:46professional, uh, she knows how to, uh, show her body to the camera, uh, she knows how to perform,
00:28:55and she was really excited to play this kind of a, uh, sword fighter kind of character, because
00:29:01she said she hasn't done anything like this, and, uh, man, you know, I had such a great,
00:29:08uh, experience, uh, working with her, I would like to work with her again and again in the
00:29:15future, um, she's just breathtakingly beautiful, and, uh, her amazing body, just camera loves her
00:29:24body, um, but, uh, yeah, she's, like, this gorgeous blue lighting with her gorgeous, gorgeous
00:29:32skin, just, just, reflection is just amazing, it's just, uh, she doesn't, she doesn't look
00:29:39real, you know, she looks like a, maybe a CG character or something, but she's, uh, full-on,
00:29:45uh, real person and amazing actress, I would love to work with her again and again, um,
00:29:52so, yeah, this, uh, you know, we have this monologue here, uh, about how, uh, you know,
00:30:02our, uh, bad guy is not, uh, uh, uh, enemy of women, but anyway, I, I really kind of felt
00:30:11that way about, uh, making, making the Jalo, uh, in, in, in, you know, 2019, um, you know,
00:30:22the post, uh, um, Me Too movement and everything kind of, uh, um, you know, put the strong,
00:30:29strong, uh, sense of political correctness, uh, into genre cinema and genre industry, uh,
00:30:40and, uh, it kind of started to, um, push, uh, seemingly sexist contents away, but, uh, you
00:30:53know, um, I wish, um, people can look into the deeper meanings or the true meanings behind
00:31:02the content and, uh, um, then you'll see, you know, then you'll see your judgment is wrong,
00:31:09but anyway, here's the beautiful death scene, uh, of Miss Aisayama and, uh, she played her death
00:31:20scene beautifully here. Look at Mr. Kimura here, you know, he is, uh, he's, he talked about the actor
00:31:28with a thousand faces, you know, he can be a villain, he can be kind of a classic Japanese
00:31:36samurai-esque actor, um, or he can be a psychopathic killer, um, you know, um, Kimura can play anything,
00:31:47he can, he can play anything and everything really, really well, uh, he's just amazingly gifted, uh,
00:31:55performer, and, uh, I just loved, uh, working with him too, um, I can, I can't wait to work with him
00:32:03again as well, uh, he's actually going to be in my sixth feature, Lion Girl, uh, which is currently
00:32:12in production right now, and, uh, he's gonna play this amazing, uh, I'm not gonna spoil it, but he's
00:32:19gonna play this amazing key character in Lion Girl 2. Um, here is beautiful, uh, downtown Tokyo,
00:32:27uh, Shinjuku, Friday night, busy, busy, busy street, and we got the street permit, but, uh, the, all the,
00:32:37all the chaos that you see behind us are real, and, uh, we are able to capture that moment doing kind of
00:32:46a low-budget guerrilla filmmaking, and, uh, uh, we were able to, uh, achieve some amazing shots,
00:32:54um, that's really thanks to our, uh, co-producer, uh, Mr. Kozo Ando, uh, he, he's really one of the
00:33:05genius behind this picture to pull it off with the shoestring budget, um, and, uh, uh, you know,
00:33:13be able to pull off this movie. The amazing fact that you probably don't guess it at all
00:33:24is, Maniac Driver was shot in four days and a half. I'm gonna repeat this. This movie was
00:33:35entirely shot in four days and a half. Um, yeah, it's crazy. Yeah, I know. I, you know, it was so
00:33:45crazy, uh, that I really don't remember much from the production, from the shoot. Um, my, um,
00:33:56my memory is somewhat of a mush, and, uh, uh, especially the fourth day. Um, of course, you know,
00:34:04fourth day, we, we couldn't, uh, go home. We, we shot, like, something crazy, like, 27 hours straight,
00:34:14and, uh, we were able to pull it off. But, uh, man, again, you know, Japanese cast and crew,
00:34:21they are troopers. Um, you know, it's, it's, it's unfortunate, really. Uh, but, uh, uh, you know,
00:34:29Japanese film workers are not protected by strong unions, like American ones. And, uh, so,
00:34:37consequently, there are no rules how long, um, the working hours, uh, needs to be. So, uh, you know,
00:34:47low budget production. I really don't like doing this. You know, I really don't like, um, you know,
00:34:55putting so much demand on my cast and crew. But, uh, fourth day of this, uh, production,
00:35:01we had to shoot, uh, 27 hours straight. But, um, I think the, uh, the nipple piercing, uh, dummy shot
00:35:10in the opening of the movie was the last shot of the production. And I kinda, uh, passed out,
00:35:17uh, you know, like two, three seconds before I said cut, uh, during that take. Um, anyway,
00:35:26here's this beautiful love scene between, uh, Miss Iori Kogawa and Tomoki Kimura,
00:35:34kind of a pseudo honeymoon, fake honeymoon in, uh, kind of fake memory of our, uh, strange main
00:35:44character, uh, Fujinaga. Uh, we shot in September, but I kinda wanted to sell the idea that this,
00:35:52uh, this love scene took place in the super hot summer day. So, we have this, uh, portable,
00:35:59uh, fire grill going on in front of the, uh, camera lens to give this, uh, um, uh, the heatwave
00:36:09look. I know it's, you know, it's, uh, done with the, uh, uh, CG, uh, lately, you know,
00:36:18all these feet, uh, feet, heatwave effects are not really difficult one to achieve with, uh, CGI,
00:36:25but I love doing stuff as much as I can practically on set. So, um, we did the heatwave effect in front
00:36:36of the camera, uh, for real, uh, for this love scene, and I think it just adds a beautiful,
00:36:41beautiful texture to the, uh, uh, to the movie.
00:36:48The wonderful, uh, cinematography, uh, is done by, uh, Mr. Makoto Hayashi,
00:36:58and, uh, he's, uh, he's my long-time collaborator. He, uh, he was DP for the, uh, uh, Tokyo portion
00:37:07of my, uh, fourth feature, uh, Karate Kill, and, uh, he did an amazing job there, and, uh, you know,
00:37:16um, when, uh, you know, uh, we decided to shoot Maniac Driver in Tokyo, I definitely wanted to have,
00:37:24uh, Hayashi-san back as my, uh, DP, and, uh, he's, uh, he's, uh, uh, amazing, uh, uh, second camera
00:37:35operator slash camera assistant, uh, Heboki-san, Mr. Heboki, and, uh, uh, Hayashi-san are such a great
00:37:43team, and, uh, they are, they are just pleasure to work with. Uh, here's this beautiful smile from
00:37:49Miss Kogawa. She's just selling the idea of this fake honeymoon, fake, uh, loving wife, and this,
00:37:59uh, kind of a sad face from Fujinaga is the innuendo that, uh, this whole, uh, memory is actually
00:38:09fake. Uh, you know, we find out that, uh, he never had a wife, you know, really, and that this is,
00:38:16this picture that he's using as kind of, uh, to remember his wife is actually a magazine cutout.
00:38:24We, we find out about that later. Um, here's one of my, uh, uh, favorite shot, uh, of the movie,
00:38:37the, uh, the, uh, blood dripping onto the lens shot. Um, I love putting, uh, I love putting
00:38:45blood on my lens, and, uh, we have this plexiglass here protecting the, uh, lens, and, uh, uh, you
00:38:57know, Kimura-san is actually, um, controlling where the, uh, blood drops off, and he definitely
00:39:05had the great sense where to, uh, land, uh, uh, stage blood, and, um, I was able to get
00:39:13that beautiful shot. Um, so we're back in the streets again. So basically within four
00:39:19days and a half, uh, shooting schedule, basically one whole day was this, uh, car driving days,
00:39:29and, uh, we had, uh, some of my friends, amazing, um, people, uh, uh, uh, came out for us, uh, to
00:39:41be the, uh, taxi passenger, and, uh, they, this is their cameo appearances, and, uh, yeah,
00:39:49they, uh, we, we just let the, uh, Kimura-san drive them around a few blocks in Tokyo, and, uh,
00:39:57we had, uh, uh, GoPro camera rolling in, uh, in the, in the, uh, uh, inside the car, and
00:40:04that's how we got those, uh, uh, passenger sequences. Uh, but, uh, all the, uh, all the
00:40:10cameo taxi passenger guys, uh, I think they did an amazing job. Uh, they really look like,
00:40:17uh, the, uh, real taxi passengers in Tokyo. Um, yeah, here's another example.
00:40:27Here's another example of, uh, here's another example of Tomoki doing some amazing acting,
00:40:34amazing performance during, uh, him actually driving in the car. Um, yeah, this was, this,
00:40:43that, that powerhouse, uh, panic freakout moment was a beautiful, uh, beautiful sequence.
00:40:51Uh, it was really demanding sequence for Kimura, but, uh, he pulled it off.
00:40:56This is one of my favorite shot of the movie. Here is Nissan President pulling up to pick up
00:41:04the, our femme fatale, um, played by Miss Iori Kogawa, but, uh, what you see in the background
00:41:14is Japanese parliament. Uh, so that's where all the Japanese bullshit politicians, uh, take nap,
00:41:22pretending, attending, pretending to attend important, um, you know, conferences and talks
00:41:32and all that, but what they do is take a goddamn nap and, uh, stealing people's tax.
00:41:41Anyhow, I don't talk too highly of Japanese government or Japanese politicians at all.
00:41:49I think all of them are pretty bad. Uh, all of them who are in power are bad. Anyway, so this is
00:41:57another symbolism that I'm talking about. The democracy is taken away. So that's, that's the,
00:42:06you know, this, our heroine represents, um, the freedom, uh, or democracy. And here's this evil guy
00:42:15taking her away in front of, uh, uh, Japanese parliament. So that shot itself, that shot alone
00:42:25should give the, uh, uh, the insight to the, uh, uh, true meaning of this, uh, movie is all about. So,
00:42:34um, anyhow, unfortunately, a lot of film festival programmers didn't see it or they saw it, but they
00:42:44didn't care to include this movie in their program. Um, anyhow, um, so this is, uh, this is,
00:42:55to see like this 19, this car was from the eighties, but this, this car was kept in the prime
00:43:03condition and all the reflection of the, uh, the food, uh, just beautifully, uh, you know,
00:43:12photographed this. Uh, I love the shot with, uh, you know, back mirror in the car and everything,
00:43:18but if you slow that down, uh, that last shot, uh, you can actually see my DP, Hayashi-san,
00:43:25uh, between the shot, between, from, from Kimura-san's face to Kogawa-san's face,
00:43:34when the mirror changes the direction, you get the glimpse of, uh, our cameraman. But, uh,
00:43:42I love shit like that. You know, it's like, your naked eye don't see it. If you, when you slow it
00:43:48down, you see it, but you know, that's the, that's the gimmick of the movie, you know? And I think
00:43:53those are the kind of a beautiful thing that, uh, you get the glimpse of, uh, how we achieve those
00:44:03shots. Um, again, this is really interesting. It's kind of a movie magic thing, but, uh,
00:44:12um, you know, because we are low budget and we were very crunched on time and everything.
00:44:22So all our driving route and all the, the shooting permit to pull over to the side of the road and
00:44:32shoot, you know, it's very, um, it, it, it's not like all together in the same place. So
00:44:39the inside the car conversation and this shot of him, uh, getting off the car to
00:44:47take the photograph of the, uh, address of, uh, Mayumi and everything, uh, this is two completely
00:44:55different locations. So what's you, what you saw in the car in the background is very different place,
00:45:04uh, from this place that cars park, but you don't see, you don't realize that at all. You know,
00:45:10those, those little things are like the movie, movie magic that I love, you know? Um, like the first,
00:45:19uh, you know, first sequence, the chase sequence with, uh, another amazing actress, uh, uh,
00:45:27in the, uh, Saryu-san, uh, in the beginning of the movie, um, you see, uh, you see her getting into
00:45:35car accident, you know, she, she gets hit by a car and, uh, um, but that, uh, uh, that sequence is
00:45:46completely different place that the surveillance camera looking, uh, view and the place we shot the
00:45:53actual car crash impact, uh, shot are two completely different locations, but, uh, uh, that amazing
00:46:02actress, Saryu Usui-san, uh, did amazing, uh, car accident victim, uh, performance and everything,
00:46:10uh, but, uh, on the, on the street chase, uh, all those places are completely different places,
00:46:17and that's, that's kind of a movie magic moment. Um, here's this, uh, uh, fantasy, uh, murder sequence
00:46:26that Fujinaga's having, um, he's fantasizing about killing his femme fatale Mayumi, but, uh, um,
00:46:38I wanted to do something like Lucio Fulci's, uh, you know, horror movie, like, uh, like Beyond,
00:46:47or something, you know, like, uh, uh, uh, actor just pukes out the, the, the entire intestine in their
00:46:56body kind of thing. Um, you know, our, uh, our lack of budget, uh, couldn't really provide me with
00:47:04that massive amount of intestine, but, uh, we were able to do a little bit here. Um, yeah, again,
00:47:14Iori was such a trooper, she had, uh, a mouth full of, uh, stage blood, fake blood, plus, uh, can, uh,
00:47:25uh, Japanese clam, uh, intestines. Um, so this is, like, what you're seeing is, like, a scallop and
00:47:34scallop intestine canned food or something. So it's actually something edible, but, uh,
00:47:43she put that a lot in her mouth, and little by little, she, uh, puked it out, and, uh, man,
00:47:52this is amazingly beautiful and nasty sequence, and, uh, um, man, Iori Kogawa just pulled it off.
00:48:02Uh, amazing performance, uh, with the timing of the spit and blood and, uh, chunky stuff, all,
00:48:09all the thing, it's just beautiful. Um, and, uh, you know, uh, yeah, from, from, oh, here's, uh,
00:48:19here's Kimura-san's interesting thing. This is actually a sake, uh, one self-serving,
00:48:26one portion, uh, glass of sake, and it's real, and he chugs it.
00:48:32this is this was the last shot of this day i i believe this was day two or something or of our
00:48:43shooting schedule and so at the end he wanted to actually do the real
00:48:49sake drinking in one take and uh we did it and uh it's amazing so you you know you so you can
00:49:00actually see it's the whole thing is real uh here is uh another uh great actor friend of mine uh
00:49:09kiichi sonobe uh playing a cheesy boyfriend of mayumi and we don't know what this guy's about
00:49:18he looks like a nice guy in a nice business suit but he does this weird prayer thing this is a
00:49:25little bit of the innuendo uh what to come um but i love this voyeuristic kind of uh long lens
00:49:34uh shot um yeah this really is a kind of a voyeuristic uh shot uh because uh our uh dark hero
00:49:47uh fujinaga is actually stalking mayumi uh because he got the address from uh um you know her suits
00:49:58case and he's he's taking out uh and uh he was looking at her from binocular so that's what that
00:50:07long lens uh shot was simulating um you know this is japanese taxi cab never does this you know they
00:50:16never uh take a passenger from the other side of the street and pull pull her over to the this side
00:50:25um yeah this is this is kind of scary if you know anything about like catching cab taxi cab in tokyo
00:50:36this is very unusual and scary kind of uh coercing this uh uh female passenger onto the taxi cab
00:50:45um taxi cabs are still very popular uh form of uh transportation in tokyo um in in in los
00:50:55angeles where i live um it seems like taxi is old news anymore you know it's uh uh uh i don't
00:51:05take taxis anymore i use uber you know uh this app on your smartphone that uh just uh you know uh get
00:51:16your ride you know and uh so in la or in america i'm assuming uh taxi is a dying business
00:51:25but uh uh in japan it's true still uh thriving uh so a lot of people take taxi every day
00:51:32uh therefore i think the appeal of maniac driver uh for japanese audience is actually great
00:51:42uh because many people do still take taxi cabs today i love this um kind of um
00:51:50i don't know uh john woo-esque uh slow-mo shot uh with uh woman uh getting off the car
00:52:01and this guy smoking cigarette uh behind her and this again you know again i love long lens uh
00:52:12stuff so this is a super long lens uh shooting fujinaga uh seeing him uh kind of a zeroing in on his
00:52:26prey you know like he found mayumi and mayumi is it that's who he wants to kill and uh uh you know
00:52:37uh then he is uh going to take his own life that's his plan um here is this uh
00:52:47movie trivia i don't think many people know about this movie but that there was uh back in
00:52:561991 peter coyote did the amazing movie called uh either high art or exposure uh different uh
00:53:09different english titles has been slapped onto this movie but uh it's basically a story about this
00:53:15photographer uh getting obsessed into the world of knife fights french actor checky caro uh plays
00:53:26amazing uh knife combat master and uh he teaches peter peter coyote how to fight with the with the knife
00:53:35but this is the little bit of a the this drawing uh the lines on the mirror uh is how uh
00:53:45checky caro uh teaches uh peter coyote how to fight the knife so i really wanted to uh pay a tribute to
00:53:54that movie rarely seen amazing movie uh high art or uh uh exposure and uh so this this this sequence is
00:54:07kind of a multi-layered movie trivia stuff you know i mean this line is directly from taxi driver
00:54:14and the action itself is for the uh from the high art and and it's a jello so you know uh it's a crazy
00:54:24amount of uh movie trivia trivia uh colliding together in this one one sequence
00:54:32so i said this movie was shot in four days and a half and a half is not really half day this one
00:54:45shot uh this was uh uh we we went to shinjuku one of the busiest nightlife uh place in tokyo
00:54:55and shot this uh shot so this was the first uh sequence that we shot for the movie and
00:55:02essentially this is day zero so this was this wasn't included in the four day
00:55:09main um schedule this is the this is the half day or just you know a few hours really um that we got
00:55:18together to shoot this sequence but i love this sequence and this is little alley uh in shinjuku but
00:55:27i always wanted to shoot the movie there and uh so that shot was kind of like my dream come true
00:55:34um but here is uh guest appearance by mr yoshiki takahashi uh
00:55:42uh the only movie critic i trust in japanese industry and he we were lucky enough to have him do a little
00:55:52cameo for us and uh he's actually uh making his debut feature feature film debut uh directorial debut
00:56:02uh it's called the rage holic and it should be coming out to the world market very soon i'm really
00:56:09looking forward to seeing his movie um here is the traveling shot uh into mayumi's apartment and uh
00:56:21our uh main character fujinaga is stalking the apartment and he decides to hide himself under the bed
00:56:33waiting for her to come home but uh her coming home will have a little bit of a surprise
00:56:39this sequence was quite interesting it's um you know basically the camera is gonna go everywhere so
00:56:56no crew were hiding in this room so it was just basically uh kimura-san with the camera
00:57:05and um his own lighting which is the flashlight so this is really kind of a
00:57:14far out sequence it's kind of like symbolizes the digital digital nature of the filmmaking today
00:57:22um crew is nowhere to be seen but the actor himself has the light and the camera and the prop
00:57:32and he actually does the whole sequence by himself you know uh this wasn't possible
00:57:41back in the big film equipment days um you know this is possible now with the digital revolution the
00:57:49camera is so tiny and uh um you know actor and also the you know the exposure is amazing you can
00:57:57actually expose something with the flashlight so um you know that's uh that's a very digital technology
00:58:04heavy uh shot i would say here's the beautiful uh time-lapse photography of shinjuku uh done by my
00:58:15assistant director uh takai-san uh he did the amazing job on this movie and all the time-lapse photography
00:58:24you see is done by him and thanks to him i think um the film has uh great uh time-lapse photography
00:58:36here we are we are seeing fujinaga hiding under the bed and uh uh mayumi came home with his uh
00:58:47mayumi came home with her boyfriend played by kichi sonobe which i mentioned earlier and his mysterious
00:58:59uh guest so
00:59:04the surprise of the movie is basically mayumi's mayumi's boyfriend
00:59:12is brainwashed has been brainwashed by the sex cult and he's really pushing mayumi to get
00:59:23get fucked by the cult leader so that uh fame and fortune will come to them and it's really screwed up
00:59:30premise but uh i guess you know i i think religious religion uh are one of the
00:59:42scariest existence in in in human society and uh you know of course majority of the religion are good
00:59:53but you know sometimes religion causes friction religion uh causes problems i mean you know uh
01:00:04uh religion causes a lot of wars let's face it um so to me uh religion are dangerous stuff
01:00:17and i guess i like to make them uh uh as a villain in my movies uh which i did in current to kill and uh
01:00:26uh this is i love the i love the moment fujinaga just appears from under the bed and everybody froze for a moment
01:00:36you know and uh
01:00:40so here he is uh accidentally uh becoming a hero to face off with this crazy religious wackos
01:00:50um so here he is he kills mayumi's boyfriend but this is the only kill he performance he performs in the
01:01:02movie if you really look at the movie closely you you know uh our hero fujinaga doesn't kill anybody but
01:01:13that that guy um which is i thought it's a kind of interesting structure of the movie uh this uh cult leader
01:01:23is played by yoshiki kondo another amazing uh japanese cult actor um yeah he's he's super tall uh six feet
01:01:36something guy and amazing presence amazing voice and uh i uh i met him at a you by film festival too and i thought
01:01:49you know i wanted to work with him and uh uh here he is uh playing this amazing weirdo cult leader and uh
01:01:58uh oh here's beautiful uh mayumi uh getting a gun and uh see again uh fujinaga doesn't even kill the uh the
01:02:10cult leader uh it's actually mayumi who shoots him so i love this uh kind of uh uh handheld chaotic fighting
01:02:23moments and uh boom now he's he's shot and he's gonna die
01:02:32and uh and fujinaga's badly beaten but when mayumi opens his leather jacket we see the bulletproof jacket
01:02:42underneath so he is actually he actually came prepared and uh um the bulletproof vest is not a cop-out
01:02:53when you go back and take a look at his room hujinaga's room the bullet vest is actually sitting
01:03:01in the corner of the room so all these things all these things that i did in maniac drivers there are
01:03:09they actually pre-exist before they show up so i that's the structure i i did so if you if you watch
01:03:18this movie uh many times i think you will discover uh different things uh from uh from the you you
01:03:29discover different uh you know little plot point moments uh from different uh uh different scenes
01:03:38um so here comes uh mayumi comes to uh say thank you to fujinaga his her her savior um i kind of wanted
01:03:50to i i wanted to make fujinaga the accidental hero at the end of the movie just like taxi driver you know
01:03:58of course maniac driver is a maniac is of course it's from the uh you know william lustig's uh amazing
01:04:08classic uh maniac uh maniac and uh uh and also driver comes from taxi driver martin scorsese's uh
01:04:19amazing masterpiece taxi driver so i wanted to combine maniac and taxi driver together and make
01:04:27it into a japanese jello um so so you know hence fujinaga becomes the accidental hero at the end
01:04:35but it doesn't end like taxi driver because this is jello here is mr yota kawase uh appearing in my movie
01:04:47he's another amazing rising japanese star i think if you're a japanese film buff you've seen him before
01:04:57in many japanese movies and he's now breaking into the mainstream he just did last year he was it he was a
01:05:06season regular for a popular japanese tv cop show so he's really breaking into the mainstream right now
01:05:15and he's amazing actor i love him i i just can't um wait to work with him more and more but uh
01:05:23uh he's the star of uh yoshiki takahashi's uh uh directorial debut rageholic that i talked a little
01:05:32bit about earlier and uh yeah so you you're gonna see uh you know uh kawase san playing this amazing
01:05:43violent cop in that movie so i'm really looking forward to uh uh seeing that movie
01:05:49uh here is mayumi uh figuring out maybe fujinaga is not a person who think uh she who who she thinks
01:06:05who he is and uh um so now slowly you know the his story his side of the story is getting debunked
01:06:15by uh you know fujinaga's neighbor uh played by kawase san here
01:06:26so the reveal is kind of like a little bit like you know um kind of like the movie joker you know
01:06:34like we we start to see um you know his his story his memories are all fake you know
01:06:44uh he didn't have wife he uh his wife wasn't killed by the killer stuff like that so now seemingly
01:06:56healed fujinaga here we kind of start to look at him with the different eyes you know like is he
01:07:03oh no he is crazy and if you notice this shot these series of shots i specifically
01:07:11asked tomoki not to blink so that he will appear more crazy and uh and i think he did the
01:07:22crazy guy look perfectly
01:07:30now we've seen this device before in the room but we just didn't know what it was
01:07:36now we know it's gonna do something bad
01:07:43and uh so like i said you know fujinaga only kills one person in the movie that the bad uh boyfriend
01:07:53see the the picture uh fujinaga has been using as his wife's memorial is actually a magazine cutout and
01:08:04uh uh mayumi figures it out wife doesn't exist boom then she gets killed but
01:08:17fujinaga didn't kill her he's not here it's just his trap that killed her but it's not really him um
01:08:27so yeah it's it's really interesting uh you know um even though fujinaga is this uh villain uh bad
01:08:37character but all his uh uh uh murder murder has been uh fantasy in his head with all different women
01:08:47uh and uh um um the only one person he physically kills uh is the a bad boyfriend uh brainwashed by the cult
01:08:59and uh um so yeah it's it's really i think kind of an odd odd structured uh giallo uh
01:09:10uh much like really like what the hell's going on kind of script and uh i i like it that way it's not
01:09:19it's not just a typical real serial murder story it's more in the head more kind of a symbolistic
01:09:27um a little bit of a political statement uh a little bit of uh um commentary on the current issues
01:09:36but all genre movie all jello you know it's the crazy sexy nightmare and uh in italian italian style
01:09:48you know but it's japanese uh japanese uh setup um i'm really happy uh that i was able to make this movie
01:10:01and uh really i i i'm so thankful for everybody who helped me uh make this movie uh especially my
01:10:13amazing cast uh tomoki kimura is is a fantastic actor he's just gold and uh um and everybody else
01:10:24uh i had the pleasure work pleasure of working with every single one of them and uh again my thanks
01:10:33a huge thanks goes to my producers uh mommy akari and uh fukuda mario fukuda um without them uh i
01:10:46couldn't have done uh this picture so thank you so much for listening in to my audio
01:10:54commentary for maniac driver i hope you like the movie as much as i i i love it you know and uh
01:11:04i'm really proud of this little movie and i hope i hope you guys uh enjoyed it uh thank you so much
01:11:13and uh hopefully uh i will get to see some of you at different fan conventions or different film
01:11:24festivals or uh movie theaters somewhere in the world thank you so much
01:11:37is
01:11:51Rage war, keeping my fears
01:11:55There's no way to go back again
01:11:59No turning back
01:12:03No turning back
01:12:07No turning back
01:12:11No turning back
01:12:21No turning back
01:12:27No turning back
01:12:29No turning back
01:12:31No turning back
01:12:33No turning back
01:12:35No turning back
01:12:37No turning back
01:12:39No turning back
01:12:41No turning back
01:12:43No turning back
01:12:45No turning back
01:12:47No turning back
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