The first visuals for the movie "Sunset Sunrise" starring Masaki Suda have been released! The script is by Kankuro Kudo

■ After we finished filming “Ah, Wilderness,” Director Yoshiyuki Kishi and I were talking about how it would be good to do a funny film next. (Masaki Suda)

It has been announced that the film “Sunset Sunrise”, based on the novel of the same name by Shuhei Nire, will be released nationwide in January 2025. The first visual has also been released.

The director is Yoshiyuki Kishi, who won the Best Director Award and Audience Award at the 36th Tokyo International Film Festival for his 2023 film “Seiyoku.” The screenplay is by Kankuro Kudo, who is always producing popular works. The lead role is played by Masaki Suda, who teams up with director Kishi for the first time in seven years since winning the Japan Academy Award for Best Actor and numerous other film awards for “Ah, Wilderness” (released in 2017).

This human comedy depicts with plenty of humor the interactions between a salaryman who moves from the city on a trial basis to Minami Sanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, and the local residents, as well as the strength and warmth of its people. It also tackles the social issues that lie behind the scenes, such as Japan’s COVID-19 pandemic, rural areas suffering from depopulation, and the earthquake disaster, turning it into entertainment.

The first visual released shows the moment when the fishing-loving protagonist Shinsaku catches “something,” with the tagline “A new way of life, you caught it!?” suggesting that an unexpected life awaits him at the new place he has “tried moving to,” and Shinsaku’s smile heightens expectations for the new encounters he will have at the new place. Comments from the lead actor Masaki Suda, director Yoshiyuki Kishi, and screenwriter Kankuro Kudo have also been received.

■ Comment from Masaki Suda (starring actor)
After I finished filming “Ah, Wilderness” with Director Yoshiyuki Kishi, I was talking about how I wanted to do a funny film next. I think I naturally wanted to smile because I had shed so many tears. Then I heard that Kudo Kankuro would be joining the scriptwriting team. The script that came out was a story about people trying to make smiles come out of sadness. I think this film was born from Kishi’s vitality and Miyado’s sense, and the warm wishes of the two of them. I hope it reaches many people and makes them smile even a little. By the way, the filming site was full of smiles, just as we had intended. I laughed a lot and cried a little. Please look forward to the film “Sunset Sunrise.”

■Comment from Yoshiyuki Kishi (Director)
When I first met Miyato-san, we were able to laugh together about the Tohoku character in the original work, and I wanted to make this work with Miyato-san’s script. This is my first comedy work, but I tried to cherish the laughter that is unique to Miyato-san and direct it. This is my first work with Suda-san in 7 years. As an actor, he continues to challenge himself with new roles, and when I met him after a long time, he had become a very big actor. The only thing that seemed to remain unchanged was his attitude towards the role. The kindness, sensitivity, and emotional range of the character Shinsaku were wonderful, and I was just laughing on the set. There was a moment when Suda-san’s range of expression seemed to expand, and I was really happy to be able to witness it. If the passage of time can heal sadness, another thing that can heal sadness may be meeting people. That’s what I thought when I watched Shinsaku played by Suda-san. I would be happy if everyone who watches this movie could feel that too.

■ Comment from Kankuro Kudo (scriptwriter)
I’m originally from Miyagi Prefecture, but I’ve never really portrayed my hometown in a direct way. When I was a child, I used to go fishing with my father in Minamisanriku, and I started fishing again as a hobby during the COVID-19 pandemic, so it’s a story about something I like, and I know the setting and the dialect, and I’ve thought about whether I could live in my hometown and work remotely, so it was a story that I couldn’t think of as something that happened to me. When it comes to stories about the earthquake, I feel a sense of alienation, or rather, it makes me feel sad. I’ve been feeling a bit fuzzy for a long time, but if I were to put the answer to that into words at this point, it felt right to me. I think that’s what I wanted to say most. This is the first time that so much food has come up in a movie I wrote. Food is originally a big selling point for Tohoku, but to be honest, I hadn’t really gotten it until now. It was fresh for me to see Shinsaku eating donko soup and saying how delicious it was, and I really like the fact that Suda looks so happy eating it, because it doesn’t seem like my movie.

Movie Information

“Sunset Sunrise”

Starring: Masaki Suda
Screenplay: Kankuro Kudo
Director: Yoshiyuki Kishi
Original work: Shuhei Nire “Sunset Sunrise” (Kodansha)
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures

“Sunset Sunrise” production site
sunsetsunrise-movie.jp