1 week ago
When Masashi Kawamura first launched his now viral stop-motion short Hidari in 2023, nan Japanese filmmaker admits he could ne'er person anticipated he’d beryllium moving pinch Keanu Reeves for a full-length characteristic type of nan film.
“There was a batch of luck getting Keanu,” admits Kawamura, whose inheritance is mostly successful euphony videos and commercials. “After we vanished impervious of conception pinch nan five-minute film, I conscionable started making this dream database of group I wanted to usage arsenic nan sound formed and he was evidently astatine nan apical of my list.”
The story, Kawamura says, has a John Wick feel to it successful that it centers astir a lead characteristic who turns condolences into vengeance. So, erstwhile nan filmmaker and his shaper Noriko Matsumoto of dwarf studios reached retired straight to Reeves and his team, they were delighted that nan character was intrigued by nan communicative and boarded nan task to sound nan lead characteristic Jingoro.
“I was truthful happy we did nan impervious of concept, because that was nan logic we made it,” says Kawamura of nan YouTube short that has since amassed 5 cardinal views. “Nobody really knows maine arsenic a director, and this is my first-time characteristic film. It’s an original book and doesn’t person immoderate IP attached to it, truthful I knew location were going to beryllium a batch of challenges. We couldn’t transportation nan conception pinch nan book aliases conception boards – we really had to person thing that gets group excited.”
The action-packed feature, which is inspired by Edo era craftsman Jingoro Hidari, follows Jingoro who has mislaid everything – his begetter figure, fiancée and moreover his correct limb – aft he has been betrayed by those hopeless to hide nan secrets of Edo Castle’s reconstruction. On nan brink of despair, nan legendary craftsman transforms his condolences into an unyielding thrust for vengeance. Armed pinch his bonzer carpentry skills and a bid of lethal mechanical prosthetic arms, Jingoro carves his ain way to justice. With his loyal companion, nan “Sleeping Cat”, he faces his enemies successful a gripping communicative of revenge and self-discovery.
“There’s fantasies, chainsaws, crazy woody robots appearing and it’s benignant of for illustration a fictional play drama,” says Kawamura. “But we wanted to support nan communicative rather simple, because nan ocular is truthful complex. So, we are decidedly going much down nan action way pinch this.”
Hidari is produced by Matsumoto, who has played a starring domiciled successful positioning dwarf studios arsenic 1 of nan first successful Japan to collaborate pinch world streamers, aft its Netflix series Rilakkuma gained wide attention. Her latest project, short film Bottle George, was shortlisted astatine nan 2025 Oscars. The movie is besides produced by Whatever and TECARAT and its financing partner is Questry Co.’s Tomonobu Ibe.
Kawamura’s profession spans commercials, euphony videos and tv shows to creating clones for Lady Gaga and designing nan largest pavilion astatine Osaka Expo 2025. His projects person earned world recognition, including a Cristal astatine nan Annecy International Animation Film Festival and an International Emmy Award nomination.
While this is Kawamura’s first foray into nan stop-motion world, he says he was “always looking for an opportunity” to research nan medium. “My expertise is live-action and CG work,” he says. “But erstwhile Noriko approached maine astir processing a task that could resonate pinch world distributors, platforms and studios, we thought we could fig retired a measurement to create an eager stop-motion characteristic film.”
He continues: “I loved watching stop-motion successful my youth, and I felt nan magic is nan truth that you’re shooting existent objects and you’re not replicating them done programming. It’s really these inanimate objects utilizing cinema magic. The texture, nan material, that benignant of tactile beingness is what I really wanted to make arsenic portion of nan story.”
Kawamura began reasoning of nan worldly first and assessed water, fire, metal, leather and wood arsenic potentials but chose nan second for its “strong roots successful Japanese civilization and history.”
“It was a very conscious decision, and I thought if we could do immoderate woody puppet work, it would beryllium thing visually and aesthetically unsocial and interesting.”
Building connected this, he recalled nan communicative of a legendary sculptor Jingoro Hidari. “Nobody knows if he existed aliases not,” he says. “There’s this penning near of him and location are sculptures still near successful astir 500 locations that are said to beryllium nan activity of nan Hidari, but erstwhile you look into it, nan activity spans crossed 200 years.
“I felt for illustration location was a batch of intrigue down this mysterious, somewhat humanities character, and it felt cleanable because he was a sculptor and his activity was said to travel live because it looked truthful real. That’s nan benignant of story astir him and I knew that if I could show nan communicative of a sculptor done a woody puppet that looks for illustration it’s 1 of his ain creations, past that would beryllium a very absorbing and other furniture to nan movie itself.”
One of Hidari’s astir celebrated sculptures is nan “Sleeping Cat,” which features successful nan movie and is presently situated astatine nan Tōshōgū Shrine successful Nikkō, Japan.
Kawamura and Matsumoto are successful progressive conversations pinch a number of imaginable world partners to push Hidari into accumulation and Reeves’ support has been cardinal pinch Kawamura stressing that nan character has already fixed tons of ideas to nan project.
“He’s ace focused,” he says. “I was conscionable a fanboy but now I’m almost moving arsenic a partner pinch him. I’ve learned truthful overmuch from him and proceed to study from him arsenic we go.”
