Actor Takumi Saito appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi) broadcast on July 8th. He talked about his memories of his father, who loves movies, his favorite movies, actors, etc.
He saw "ET" (1982) at the cinema when he was one year old. "I was scared of the dark and loud noises, so I started crying as soon as the movie started, and my mother reluctantly took me out, but that space was very shocking to me," he recalled. Since his father worked in the film industry, he would take him to the cinema two or three times a week to see whatever movie he wanted to see. "I saw "Malcolm X" at the cinema when I was in the lower grades of elementary school, and I didn't understand what it was about," he said.
He has also seen a few literary films. His favorite film by Yasujiro Ozu is "Good Morning" (1959). "I found the part where the kids in the housing complex compete in a fart contest entertaining, even though I had no idea who Yasujiro Ozu was," he said. Actor Chishu Ryu, who also appears in the film, said, "I feel like he's a relative. It may be because of the Ozu angle, but he's someone I'll always look up to."
A clip of Kasa's appearance on the show was shown, and he was amazed, saying, "Wow, those words really hit home. In this age of social media, where people are increasingly concerned with how they express themselves according to their own convenience, it's amazing that he doesn't even speak, only three words every three years (for a man, speaking three words every three years is enough)."
"I am still in awe of the greatness of Ozu's films and the beauty of Ryu Chishu's minimalist expression, which I have come to understand since entering the film industry," he said, referring to the low angles known as the "Ozu angle" and the homely set designs. "That formative experience of watching and enjoying his films without knowing the greatness of Yasujiro Ozu holds a very large meaning for me."
