Voices in the Wind (film)

2020 film by Nobuhiro Suwa

Voices in the Wind

Directed by| Nobuhiro Suwa
Written by|

* Nobuhiro Suwa
* Kyôko Inukai

Produced by|

* Eiji Izumi
* Dai Miyazaki
* Yoshiya Nagasawa

Starring|

* Serena Motola
* Nishijima Hidetoshi
* Toshiyuki Nishida
* Tomokazu Miura

Cinematography| Takahiro Haibara
Edited by| Takashi Sato
Music by| Hiroko Sebu
Distributed by| Broadmedia Studios

Release date

* 24 January 2020 (2020-01-24) (Japan)

Running time

| 139 minutes

Voices in the Wind (風の電話, Kaze no denwa, lit. Wind's phone) is a 2020 drama film directed by Nobuhiro Suwa and co-written by Suwa and Kyoko Inukai.[1] Suwa's first film based in Japan in eighteen years, it follows a girl's road trip from Hiroshima to her hometown of Ōtsuchi eight years after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami took the lives of her parents and brother. The film is named after and involves the wind phone, a real installation in Ōtsuchi.[2]

Distributed by Broadmedia Studios, the film was officially released in Japan on January 24, 2020.[3][4] It was also screened at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival in Germany and won Special Mention for the Grand Prix of the Generation 14Plus International Jury for the Best Film category. It was Suwa's second film to be entered into the Generation 14Plus competition, his first being Yuki & Nina in 2009.[5]

## Synopsis

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At the age of nine, Haru lost her parents and brother, Hayato, to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which struck her family in Ōtsuchi. Since then, Haru has lived with her aunt, Hiroko, in Hiroshima. Eight years later, when Haru is seventeen and due to graduate from high school, Hiroko suggests going back to Ōtsuchi but falls ill and is hospitalized shortly after. Greatly affected by her aunt's ailment, Haru embarks on a journey from Hiroshima to Ōtsuchi all by herself, during which she is assisted and accompanied by several strangers and families along the way.

## Cast

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* Serena Motola as Haruka
* Makiko Watanabe as Hiroko
* Hidetoshi Nishijima as Morio
* Toshiyuki Nishida as Imada
* Tomokazu Miura as Kohei

## Background

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### Wind phone

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On a hill in Ōtsuchi, a garden designer named Itaru Sasaki built an unconnected white telephone booth, called the wind phone, in 2011 in order to enable him to "speak" with his deceased cousin who had passed in 2009. Sasaki had wanted to create something that would allow the living to somehow meet with the dead.[6][7]

After the 2011 earthquake, Sasaki then allowed the public to use the phone in order to similarly "speak" with those who lost their lives in the disaster. Since then, over thirty thousand people have visited it in order to communicate with the deceased.[8] In 2016, the NHK broadcast a documentary about the wind phone, and in 2017, Sasaki published a book regarding his decision to create it.[9]

### Inspiration

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After the 2011 earthquake, Suwa, a television director at the time, felt emboldened to shoot footage of its aftermath and received permission from his studio to do so. However, his wife questioned the utility of his act, which made him question the ethics of his role and realize that it would be inappropriate to shoot footage of such a catastrophic event. In the end, he decided not to go. Years later, Suwa discovered the wind phone and decided to make a film about those who chose to seek it out.[10]

While the film principally tackles the specific grief faced by the 2011 earthquake, it also mentions the Fukushima nuclear accident, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the plight of the Kurdish diaspora. Suwa and co-writer Kyoko Inukai decided to address these other historical incidences in their screenplay to address the diverse kinds of suffering felt by Japan and the rest of the world at the time.[11]

## Production

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During auditions, Motola was asked to first read a scene aloud with a script, after which she was asked to improvise with hardly any context other than setting. In preparing for her audition, Motola had found her sides so sad that she hesitated to audition, though she continued with it nonetheless. Upon landing the role, Motola felt a true desire to take on the role of Haru.[12]

Like with some of his previous movies, Suwa directed the film without a script, still preferring improvisation both with regard to the acting performances as well as the handheld camera techniques employed for shooting. Many scenes, such as Haru and Morio's communion with the Kurdish people in Japan and the final conversation Haru has at the wind phone, were shot as though it were a documentary rather than a drama.[13][14] Even then, Suwa felt that he had a strong grasp of the film's structure and that the character of Haru alone was enough to make a film out of.[15][16] The final result was a film with minimal dialogue.[17]

Shooting began in April 2019 with plans for release in spring of the following year.[18] Early preview screenings were held at the end of 2019, including in Ōtsuchi.[19] Following the film's completion and plans for distribution in January 2020, a crowdfunding campaign was organized in order to show it in more theaters nationwide, as well as parts of Japan which didn't have cinemas.[7]

## Critical reception

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After the film's completion, Suwa screened it for the locals in Ōtsuchi. Some stated that the film exceeded their expectations, while others found that it made them less lonely after suffering greatly from the disaster. Sasaki himself commented on the film as a way to convey one person's realization of the meaning of life through the wind phone.[7]

The Reel Bits lauded Motola's "remarkably nuanced performance that is sure to put her on the top of casting lists" and its "rumination of grief" "beautifully captured" by Suwa's unflinching directing.[20]

Asian Movie Pulse also admired Suwa as a "fearless filmmaker" and applauded Motola's acting: "[her] face is a canvas that presents the very core of the film. Her character is a carrier of the catastrophe. In the moments of encounter, she reminds others of the tsunami and the consequences. Past and present are collectively bound in her presence the same way the movie tries to keep up the memory of the disaster. Haru becomes a metaphor for the meaning of the film itself."[21]

## References

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1. ^ Hadfield, James (2020-01-23). "'Voices in the Wind': Loss and a haunting journey home". The Japan Times. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
2. ^ Knoth, Alexander (2020-09-28). "Film Review: Voices in the Wind (2020) by Nobuhiro Suwa". Asian Movie Pulse. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
3. ^ "モトーラ世理奈主演「風の電話」ベルリン国際映画祭に正式出品！ : 映画ニュース". 映画.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 2025-05-03.
4. ^ "映画『風の電話』実在の"天国に繋がる電話"モチーフ、モトーラ世理奈×西島秀俊で岩手までの旅路を描く". www.fashion-press.net (in Japanese). Retrieved 2025-05-03.
5. ^ "モトーラ世理奈主演、震災後描く『風の電話』ベルリン映画祭で国際審査員特別賞". cinemacafe.net (in Japanese). 2020-03-01. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
6. ^ "被災地に置かれた「風の電話」が映画に。 「亡き人とつながれるという思いが、人に生きる希望を与える」". ハフポスト (in Japanese). 2019-11-11. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
7. ^ a b c "被災地に置かれた「風の電話」が映画に。 「亡き人とつながれるという思いが、人に生きる希望を与える」". ハフポスト (in Japanese). 2019-11-11. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
8. ^ Blair, Gavin J. (2020-02-20). "Berlin Hidden Gem: 'Voices in the Wind' Depicts a Sense of Connection in Japan". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
9. ^ "故人と話す「風の電話」映画化 メインキャストにモトーラ世理奈、西島秀俊、三浦友和、西田敏行｜シネマトゥデイ". シネマトゥデイ (in Japanese). 2019-04-10. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
10. ^ "震災後、3万を超える人々の安らぎの場に。その傷ついた心の声を紡ぎ、分かち合う映画『風の電話』（水上賢治） - エキスパート". Yahoo!ニュース (in Japanese). Retrieved 2025-05-03.
11. ^ "「風の電話」ベルリンで上映、諏訪敦彦とモトーラ世理奈が東日本大震災を語る". 映画ナタリー (in Japanese). Retrieved 2025-05-03.
12. ^ "モトーラ世理奈×諏訪敦彦監督が振り返る、『風の電話』撮影で出会った"震災後の日本の家族"". Real Sound｜リアルサウンド 映画部 (in Japanese). 2020-01-25. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
13. ^ "『風の電話』モトーラ世理奈インタビュー - SCREEN ONLINE（スクリーンオンライン）". Archived from the original on 2024-11-02. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
14. ^ "モトーラ世理奈は「撮りたいと思わせる存在」 諏訪敦彦監督作「風の電話」で放った求心力 : 映画ニュース". 映画.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 2025-05-03.
15. ^ 西森, 路代 (2020-01-28). "フィクションでもあり、現実でもある――映画『風の電話』が映し出す、日本の"当たり前の光景"". Asahi.
16. ^ "『風の電話』諏訪敦彦監督インタビュー | インタビュー｜神戸映画資料館". kobe-eiga.net. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
17. ^ "「言葉を発しない。でも伝わる」 モトーラ世理奈さんは「すごい女優」 映画「風の電話」三浦友和インタビュー". 毎日新聞 (in Japanese). Retrieved 2025-05-03.
18. ^ "西島秀俊＆三浦友和＆西田敏行が共演！天国につながる唯一の電話…『風の電話』". cinemacafe.net (in Japanese). 2019-04-11. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
19. ^ "モトーラ世理奈、『風の電話』地元・大槌町で舞台あいさつ 設置者・佐々木氏も登壇". クランクイン！- エンタメの「今」がわかる 映画＆エンタメニュースサイト (in Japanese). 2019-12-19. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
20. ^ Gray, Richard (2020-07-27). "Review: Voices in the Wind". The Reel Bits. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
21. ^ Knoth, Alexander (2020-09-28). "Film Review: Voices in the Wind (2020) by Nobuhiro Suwa". Asian Movie Pulse. Retrieved 2025-05-03.