The Aa, Koya Dream
I am sorry this is not an update for my fic! XD
Actually this is not a report as well. It's more like an interpretation of Jun's butai and my experience watching it as a live audience just a couple of hours ago.
First of all, I am an independent filmmaker lives in Jakarta, Indonesia. I love Ninagawa Yukio's films and I, of course, love Matsumoto Jun and Arashi. When they collaborated again after 5 years, I couldn't help myself to be very interested to see the butai. Even more than I want to see him in a concert. One reason, the tickets are cheaper for butai (not the original price, but at tickets.co.jp). Two, building capacity is only like for 1200 or so people, how big can it be? Obviously you will be able to see Jun a lot closer than in concerts. Third, because of my background in filmmaking I am more into plays, dramas or movies in terms of preferences instead of the sugary-pop music.
Then one day, out of the blue, I was checking the website of tickets.co.jp and I did the unthinkable. Yes, I bought it. I just finished a job with quite a significant sum (which explains my slow update for my fic) and I just think, why not? I am not one to stay put with my obsession and dreams. I want to reach them with these hands. At that time I haven't bought a ticket plane and I didn't have a visa yet. I want to make sure I can get the tickets first before all that. Turns out, everything works out smoothly and I got the tickets for the first floor for my friend/producer and I.
And today, as if in a dream, we went there and saw Jun in 3D. Real life Jun. Live. In real time. At times he even passes by just like 4 rows in front of me (about 2 meters away) and it feels so surreal. Yes, girls. Jun is a real person. That was my first thought.
"He looks a bit thinner in real life," was my second thought. He keeps his eyes straight ahead or to the floor whenever he passes by us, the audience. There is this one time when he jogs around the theatre and suddenly he turns left in front of the audience's seat and that women who luckily sits at that row were completely surprised they jumped a bit from their seat XD
But before those two occurrences when he made my heart stops beating for like 10 seconds, I'd describe more about the play itself. As I only speak very little Japanese, I can't understand all the dialogues. I believed some of you have read Junbait's detailed report, and I'd prefer her report than mine.
The play opens with a dance by the supporting casts. They prepared, warmed up, stretched, joked with each other and did their make up on stage when the audiences were coming in and getting to their seats. When it started, they danced an interpretive dance, some tango, then skipping and then boxing moves. They did all these dances in sequence. It was very interesting. And at that moment, I know, I confirmed what I have thought all these times looking at the papa pics, this butai is an artsy one. It is not the commercial stuff Johnny's members usually do in films or dramas.
Then a guy starts to sings. And townsmen starts to enter the stage, on their bikes, walking and then there he is, lighting up the stage, Jun stood on top of a truck, looking straight into space, deep in thoughts. The truck goes around the stage and disappears with his back to the audience.
Then after that scene, somewhere from behind me, Keisuke guy walks down the audience to the stage with his head down. He went to a brothel (the stage with all the extras on their own bed doing their stuff is kinda impressive) and had a scene with this prostitute that wants to undress him but he refuses. They talk and talk and talk and then Jun came into the room, Keisuke hides with the girl inside a dresser. Jun is implied to have sex with his prostitute under the sheets (I keep my binoculars on that sheets, letting my imagination went wild with the movements underneath). When Keisuke went out of the cupboard with the girl (she surprisingly has changed her outfit into a white dress) he hid with. They talk again and in the end the girl flew to the sky. Yes. Flew. That's the moment when I realized that the girl has died.
Jun has fallen asleep whilst his own prostitute stole his wallet and left the room. There's an interesting moment when Jun suddenly spoke and stood up on top of the bed after Keisuke's girl flew away. A quite an emotional monologue as if he is in a trance, and then he fell back asleep again. Keisuke opened the cupboard again and found that the flying girl is in there, with blood on her chest/neck, dead. Keisuke exit the scene and Jun woke up alone as if nothing has happened.
Oh, the play also uses a piece of classical music (very famous) Johann Pachelbell's Canon with a variation with Japanese lyrics. It is very popular yet with the singing, it adds a different touch to the music. Jun himself has written on his jweb that he listens to this Canon (eggchan has translated this entry, I believe)
This is the closest version of the piece with the one in the play, I think the only difference is just that in this one, there is no singing. If anyone finds that one, please let me know! I've been google searching like some crazy woman for it XD FINALLY FOUND IT!
It also uses the song of one of my favorite musicians ever. Sigur Ros' Vaka (Untitled #1).
It is a very beautiful music (and dark) and they use it when Jun finally met his prostitute again. And the scene is quite beautiful. The girl either hides behind a billboard, and have her back to the audience. They are both at different sides of the stage. Damn lucky girl. Jun hugged her from behind and kissed her neck. But, Jun, or should I say Shinji, doesn't seem that interested in her, even tho at a scene beforehand, at a moment, he thought another woman was her from behind. Which gives the impression that he can't get her out of his head.
But on the next bed scene, Shinji is more affected by a letter from Barikan (keisuke) than the woman besides him.
And when Shinji decided to fight Barikan, he even pushed the woman away. And then Jun had this scene for himself, doing monologue by doing incredible boxing steps and moves, punching the air with such emotion that words cannot explain. At first I thought he is just playing the Domyouji side of him again with similar gestures and mimics, but at that moment, I realized; whatever other people say about his acting, Jun believes that he is the character. He is so stoic to keep this character intact. And if you see right to his gleaming eyes, you do believe it like i do. He is no longer the idol Matsumoto Jun who will waves at you and cracks his adorable smile (he didn't at all, not even during the standing ovation) in concerts. At that moment, he is Shinjuku Shinji.
Then we came to the climax of the play. Barikan sees the girl he killed at the start of the play flew to the sky again then became a silhouette as the lights beamed at the boxing ring from behind. It is one of the most beautiful scene. Which is the boxing match between Barikan and Shinji with classical music. It is as if Ninogawa is saying something define with this boxing match. It is as if it is a love scene. As if it is romantic.
Then the music changes again to "A Winter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harum (the intro is somehow very similar to Bach's Air, but that's another story). It is a beautiful song. Here's a youtube link as the play use this song a lot from beginning to end.
And everything went into slow motion. Yes. The boxing match. In slow motion.
That really surprised me. Does that happen often in Japanese plays? Because I've seen some western plays and that didn't happen at all! My own point of view, I think it is kinda interesting to do it that way. It is a hard technique to master for the actors, and has a high risk to have a scene that's not working. Almost a bit too cheesy. Like the thunder I heard in the background.
For about 5 minutes or more and Keisuke starts his monologue as Jun throws his punches in slow motion. He counts them. And then he fell down. And now, everyone freezes. Jun is the only one who moves.
Jun walked to Keisuke's lifeless body and took him in his arms and he screamed in agony. The lights are fading out, the last one stayed on his screaming face and then pitch black.
Wilderness? Oh yes, it is very wild. There's no kissing or love scenes between Keisuke and Jun (if you can't count the 'romantic' boxing match as a love scene), but I could bet my head on the homosexual undertones.
Then the music from Radiohead's Creep serenades the standing ovation. I know it refers to the play. But somehow, I dunno, it touches something personal for me. How I am there without understanding a word. How I traveled miles from my home country to see this (one of the best thing I've ever done and spent money on, tho XD). A creep, maybe I am.
Jun doesn't crack a smile throughout the standing ovation, I interpreted that he's still being Shinji (or he is just tired, he has dark circles under his eyes that he can't cover with all the make up)
But at the end, he was the last one on stage. When he walked away, the audience (whom 99 percent of them are women of all age, Jun ichibaners, I believe) is still clapping and squealing. He playfully stopped walking away with a straight face, turned to the audience again and gave another deep bow one more time at a corner of the stage.
As the clapping stopped, my dream of Jun ended.
It is a reality that feels so much like a dream, until now that I am sitting on my hotel bed, I still can't believe it all.
Actually this is not a report as well. It's more like an interpretation of Jun's butai and my experience watching it as a live audience just a couple of hours ago.
First of all, I am an independent filmmaker lives in Jakarta, Indonesia. I love Ninagawa Yukio's films and I, of course, love Matsumoto Jun and Arashi. When they collaborated again after 5 years, I couldn't help myself to be very interested to see the butai. Even more than I want to see him in a concert. One reason, the tickets are cheaper for butai (not the original price, but at tickets.co.jp). Two, building capacity is only like for 1200 or so people, how big can it be? Obviously you will be able to see Jun a lot closer than in concerts. Third, because of my background in filmmaking I am more into plays, dramas or movies in terms of preferences instead of the sugary-pop music.
Then one day, out of the blue, I was checking the website of tickets.co.jp and I did the unthinkable. Yes, I bought it. I just finished a job with quite a significant sum (which explains my slow update for my fic) and I just think, why not? I am not one to stay put with my obsession and dreams. I want to reach them with these hands. At that time I haven't bought a ticket plane and I didn't have a visa yet. I want to make sure I can get the tickets first before all that. Turns out, everything works out smoothly and I got the tickets for the first floor for my friend/producer and I.
And today, as if in a dream, we went there and saw Jun in 3D. Real life Jun. Live. In real time. At times he even passes by just like 4 rows in front of me (about 2 meters away) and it feels so surreal. Yes, girls. Jun is a real person. That was my first thought.
"He looks a bit thinner in real life," was my second thought. He keeps his eyes straight ahead or to the floor whenever he passes by us, the audience. There is this one time when he jogs around the theatre and suddenly he turns left in front of the audience's seat and that women who luckily sits at that row were completely surprised they jumped a bit from their seat XD
But before those two occurrences when he made my heart stops beating for like 10 seconds, I'd describe more about the play itself. As I only speak very little Japanese, I can't understand all the dialogues. I believed some of you have read Junbait's detailed report, and I'd prefer her report than mine.
The play opens with a dance by the supporting casts. They prepared, warmed up, stretched, joked with each other and did their make up on stage when the audiences were coming in and getting to their seats. When it started, they danced an interpretive dance, some tango, then skipping and then boxing moves. They did all these dances in sequence. It was very interesting. And at that moment, I know, I confirmed what I have thought all these times looking at the papa pics, this butai is an artsy one. It is not the commercial stuff Johnny's members usually do in films or dramas.
Then a guy starts to sings. And townsmen starts to enter the stage, on their bikes, walking and then there he is, lighting up the stage, Jun stood on top of a truck, looking straight into space, deep in thoughts. The truck goes around the stage and disappears with his back to the audience.
Then after that scene, somewhere from behind me, Keisuke guy walks down the audience to the stage with his head down. He went to a brothel (the stage with all the extras on their own bed doing their stuff is kinda impressive) and had a scene with this prostitute that wants to undress him but he refuses. They talk and talk and talk and then Jun came into the room, Keisuke hides with the girl inside a dresser. Jun is implied to have sex with his prostitute under the sheets (I keep my binoculars on that sheets, letting my imagination went wild with the movements underneath). When Keisuke went out of the cupboard with the girl (she surprisingly has changed her outfit into a white dress) he hid with. They talk again and in the end the girl flew to the sky. Yes. Flew. That's the moment when I realized that the girl has died.
Jun has fallen asleep whilst his own prostitute stole his wallet and left the room. There's an interesting moment when Jun suddenly spoke and stood up on top of the bed after Keisuke's girl flew away. A quite an emotional monologue as if he is in a trance, and then he fell back asleep again. Keisuke opened the cupboard again and found that the flying girl is in there, with blood on her chest/neck, dead. Keisuke exit the scene and Jun woke up alone as if nothing has happened.
Oh, the play also uses a piece of classical music (very famous) Johann Pachelbell's Canon with a variation with Japanese lyrics. It is very popular yet with the singing, it adds a different touch to the music. Jun himself has written on his jweb that he listens to this Canon (eggchan has translated this entry, I believe)
This is the closest version of the piece with the one in the play, I think the only difference is just that in this one, there is no singing. If anyone finds that one, please let me know! I've been google searching like some crazy woman for it XD FINALLY FOUND IT!
Click to viewIt also uses the song of one of my favorite musicians ever. Sigur Ros' Vaka (Untitled #1).
It is a very beautiful music (and dark) and they use it when Jun finally met his prostitute again. And the scene is quite beautiful. The girl either hides behind a billboard, and have her back to the audience. They are both at different sides of the stage. Damn lucky girl. Jun hugged her from behind and kissed her neck. But, Jun, or should I say Shinji, doesn't seem that interested in her, even tho at a scene beforehand, at a moment, he thought another woman was her from behind. Which gives the impression that he can't get her out of his head.
But on the next bed scene, Shinji is more affected by a letter from Barikan (keisuke) than the woman besides him.
And when Shinji decided to fight Barikan, he even pushed the woman away. And then Jun had this scene for himself, doing monologue by doing incredible boxing steps and moves, punching the air with such emotion that words cannot explain. At first I thought he is just playing the Domyouji side of him again with similar gestures and mimics, but at that moment, I realized; whatever other people say about his acting, Jun believes that he is the character. He is so stoic to keep this character intact. And if you see right to his gleaming eyes, you do believe it like i do. He is no longer the idol Matsumoto Jun who will waves at you and cracks his adorable smile (he didn't at all, not even during the standing ovation) in concerts. At that moment, he is Shinjuku Shinji.
Then we came to the climax of the play. Barikan sees the girl he killed at the start of the play flew to the sky again then became a silhouette as the lights beamed at the boxing ring from behind. It is one of the most beautiful scene. Which is the boxing match between Barikan and Shinji with classical music. It is as if Ninogawa is saying something define with this boxing match. It is as if it is a love scene. As if it is romantic.
Then the music changes again to "A Winter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harum (the intro is somehow very similar to Bach's Air, but that's another story). It is a beautiful song. Here's a youtube link as the play use this song a lot from beginning to end.
And everything went into slow motion. Yes. The boxing match. In slow motion.
That really surprised me. Does that happen often in Japanese plays? Because I've seen some western plays and that didn't happen at all! My own point of view, I think it is kinda interesting to do it that way. It is a hard technique to master for the actors, and has a high risk to have a scene that's not working. Almost a bit too cheesy. Like the thunder I heard in the background.
For about 5 minutes or more and Keisuke starts his monologue as Jun throws his punches in slow motion. He counts them. And then he fell down. And now, everyone freezes. Jun is the only one who moves.
Jun walked to Keisuke's lifeless body and took him in his arms and he screamed in agony. The lights are fading out, the last one stayed on his screaming face and then pitch black.
Wilderness? Oh yes, it is very wild. There's no kissing or love scenes between Keisuke and Jun (if you can't count the 'romantic' boxing match as a love scene), but I could bet my head on the homosexual undertones.
Then the music from Radiohead's Creep serenades the standing ovation. I know it refers to the play. But somehow, I dunno, it touches something personal for me. How I am there without understanding a word. How I traveled miles from my home country to see this (one of the best thing I've ever done and spent money on, tho XD). A creep, maybe I am.
Jun doesn't crack a smile throughout the standing ovation, I interpreted that he's still being Shinji (or he is just tired, he has dark circles under his eyes that he can't cover with all the make up)
But at the end, he was the last one on stage. When he walked away, the audience (whom 99 percent of them are women of all age, Jun ichibaners, I believe) is still clapping and squealing. He playfully stopped walking away with a straight face, turned to the audience again and gave another deep bow one more time at a corner of the stage.
As the clapping stopped, my dream of Jun ended.
It is a reality that feels so much like a dream, until now that I am sitting on my hotel bed, I still can't believe it all.