Uchiyama Takuya is developing “The Blue Breaks,” a Japan-Italy co-production adapted from Machiya Ryohei’s 2016 novel, which was among the projects at this year’s Tokyo Gap-Financing Market. The film follows Shukichi, a rootless part-time worker in his thirties living on Japan’s western edge, who was conceived through sperm donation and is unsure of his place in the world.
Shukichi’s sense of detachment deepens when he learns that his girlfriend, with whom he lives, has a son she no longer has custody of. A night with a solitary boxer of Korean descent further unsettles his sense of identity and sexuality. He later meets Toko, a terminally ill young woman who smokes and smiles despite the little time she has left, and her outlook begins to leave its mark on him. Eventually Shukichi and the people around him travel together to Korea, where they reckon with one another’s lives and deaths.
Uchiyama, whose previous work includes “Numb,” said he was drawn to the book partly because it was published in the year he began making films and because Machiya wrote it at the age Uchiyama is now. The filmmaker said Shukichi struggles with the part of himself that never quite became “manly,” adding that he has spent much of his life feeling uncomfortable with what society expects a man to be.
He described the characters as people whose lives look very different from one another’s and said Japan still expects everyone to be alike. “Diversity isn’t something new. It’s always been there, even if we haven’t always acknowledged it,” Uchiyama said, adding that he wanted to approach those feelings with a sense of lightness and to make a film about love that is unapologetically romantic.
Satoh Naomi of Differentia is producing, with Parsifal Reparato of Italy’s Antropica as co-producer. The team is working on the screenplay, casting and financing, with a shoot planned for 2027, completion in 2028 and an international festival premiere as the target.
Satoh said she and Uchiyama connected over a shared sense of not fitting the roles expected of them, whether in society at large or within the film business, and noted that films that resist categories can be hard to finance in Japan. She said the Berlinale selection of “Numb” gave her real proof that Uchiyama’s work could resonate with audiences beyond Japan.
At the Tokyo market, the producers made headway on the remaining financing and on finding international co-production partners, sales agents and distributors who could take the film beyond Japan and Italy. Reparato said the film’s appeal lies in how it rethinks family and identity, and that Antropica, which has been active in Asia for years including in Vietnam, sees the project as a way to deepen ties with Japanese cinema through Italy and Japan’s bilateral co-production framework. “At this historical moment, building bridges is more important than ever,” he said.
Uchiyama has also wrapped shooting on a separate project that is now moving into editing. The Tokyo Gap-Financing Market ran as part of TIFFCOM, the content market attached to the Tokyo International Film Festival.
Sources: Variety.