Kei Ishikawa Shares Insights on Adapting Kazuo Ishiguro’s ‘A Pale View of Hills’

Japanese Film "A Pale View of Hills" Set for UK Release in March 2024

Japanese film A Pale View of Hills is slated to have its theatrical release in the UK on March 13, 2024, following a successful run at numerous prestigious festivals including Cannes, Toronto, London, Shanghai, and Taipei. Additionally, the film will premiere in theaters across Taiwan on December 5, 2023.

Adapted from Kazuo Ishiguro’s debut novel, A Pale View of Hills presents a mystery drama set in England during the 1980s. The narrative centers on a young Japanese-British writer named Niki, portrayed by Camilla Aiko, who is determined to write a book based on her mother Etsuko’s experiences in post-war Nagasaki during the 1950s. Haunted by the tragic suicide of her older daughter, Etsuko begins sharing memories from 1952 with Niki as a young expectant mother.

Director Ishikawa describes Ishiguro as a "charming" collaborator. He revealed that their discussions were instrumental, as Ishiguro took on a role akin to a "script doctor" for the film adaptation. “He loves Japanese cinema and we talked about this for a long time,” Ishikawa noted. “From the beginning, he was so cooperative… he was really trying to help me, but at the same time, he was like, ‘This is going to be your film, so I won’t control you.’”

Ishikawa further mentioned that fellow filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda provided insights on one of his screenplay drafts.

The film boasts a talented cast including Suzu Hirose (Our Little Sister), Fumi Nikaido (Himizu), Yoh Yoshida (Kamen Rider Black Sun), and Camilla Aiko (Kraven the Hunter). Ishikawa previously directed A Man, which premiered in the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival in 2022 and won eight awards at the Japan Academy Film Prize, including Best Picture and Best Director.

One significant change in the adaptation involves shifting the narrative perspective from Etsuko to Niki, providing a new layer to the storytelling. “We changed the setting, where Niki is trying to find the mother’s story… it gives us more freedom to the story,” Ishikawa explained.

Ishikawa found the challenge of exploring themes of time and memory particularly compelling. He pointed out the differing temporalities in his adaptation, noting the distance between the original publication of the novel over 40 years ago and the historical events it recounts from 30 years prior. He reflected, “For the 1980s readers [of Ishiguro’s novel], the 1950s were much closer than for the audience now.”

He also shared his thoughts on depicting Nagasaki, the city bombed during World War II. Ishikawa emphasized the importance of representing the city as Etsuko and Ishiguro remember it, while noting the increasing vagueness of memories as firsthand witnesses pass away. “In a few years, it’s going to be so hard to talk about them… this is a time when we can still tell the story as a memory,” he said.

Looking ahead, Ishikawa is working on a new project titled The Excursion (working title), set in Poland, which will feature several Polish talents in the cast. This project marks a return for Ishikawa, who studied filmmaking at the National Film School in Lodz.