The staff of the Hawaii International Film Festival is quite accustomed to gauging the mood of international celebrities, so hosting Japan’s biggest movie star should have been free of surprise. But Koji Yakusho has been so accommodating that he’s become the feel-good moment of the festival.
After HIFF organizers gave him a career achievement award last week before the screening of his new film, "The Woodsman and the Rain," Yakusho stayed to watch the film (with his wife and mother-in-law), answered questions from the standing-room-only audience of 400 for 45 minutes and then patiently allowed fans to photograph him in the lobby of the Regal Dole Cannery Stadium 18 Theaters.
The 56-year-old Yakusho was visibly moved by the fans, whose love for the actor often turned into raucous cheering. Even in the lobby of the Waikiki hotel where he is staying, tourists have erupted in spontaneous applause when he’s walked by.
"They see him and applaud," said Chuck Boller, executive director of the festival, which ends today. "It’s funny because he doesn’t look really like a movie star. He has tousled hair and regular clothes. He is a cool guy but he is very laid back."
Aside from art-house filmgoers, Yakusho is not a household name in the United States. Some may recognize him for his 1996 hit, "Shall We Dance," which inspired a 2004 remake starring Richard Gere. He has appeared in a few English-language movies, including "Memoirs of a Geisha" in 2005 and "Babel" in 2006.
Yakusho is, of course, used to the adoration, but embracing it full-on isn’t typical for a star of his stature. When he’s in Tokyo he hits the streets with dark sunglasses and a hat tugged low.
During an interview at the Halekulani, though, he was as casual as any Waikiki tourist, relaxing in a black T-shirt, black jeans and snakeskin high-top sneakers. He’s a slender, tan man with a salt-and-pepper goatee and eyes that seem to take a deeper look at everything.
"He has gravitas," said Anderson Le, program director for HIFF. "He definitely commands the screen when he enters a scene."
Yakusho is grateful for the way fans here have treated him, he said. It was personal.
"Who knows if I will ever meet these people again," he said through an interpreter. "I don’t speak their language, and I don’t know how many of my films they have seen but I wanted to cherish this moment we had together."
Film festivals are the only chance Yakusho has to see one of his films with fans, but the rewards are great, he said.
In "The Woodsman and the Rain," Yakusho plays a logger who encounters the filmmakers of a low-budget zombie film in his remote village. When director Shuichi Okita insisted that Yakusho repeat a specific gag line several times, the actor was convinced it was a mistake — until he listened to the laughter of the HIFF fans.
"With an audience they can teach us about the unexpected joys about the film you just made that might surprise you, too," Yakusho said. "I should probably make more of a habit of sneaking into theaters and watching my own films."
When Yakusho makes a film — and he’s been in 74 — the target audience is almost always in Japan. Foreign festivals offer a different perspective.
"To be able to see how it’s enjoyed by people around the world is a good reminder to me that we are making films not just for a specific audience, but potentially for people around the world," he said.
Fourteen of Yakusho’s films have screened at HIFF, including the U.S. premiere of "Shall We Dance." The film about a bored accountant who revitalizes his life with ballroom dancing inspired a dance craze among normally reserved Japanese.
The role, which required Yakusho to learn how to dance, can still bring a smile to his face. Before the release of the film, the Japanese viewed dancing "as dirty or embarrassing," he said.
"But when we made this film, the dance industry really rallied around our project, and they rejoiced when the film was successful," he said. "And the other thing you saw was that a lot of people who used to not admit to going to ballroom dancing classes came out of the woodwork and boasted about it."
Yakusho has played a wide range of parts since his breakthrough in the 1985 film "Tampopo," in which he played a decadent, hedonistic gangster listed in the credits only as "Man in White Suit." He’s played samurai warriors ("13 Assassins"), a reformed killer ("The Eel") and a homicide investigator ("Cure"). He’s received 14 nominations for Japan’s version of the Oscars and won twice, for "Shall We Dance" and "The Eel."
For all his roles, there remains one role that Yakusho longs to play.
"This may sound terrible, but I would love to play a truly terrible, awful human being," he said. "Generally, I’m given roles that are about good human beings, and it is probably true that there are not a lot of films made about truly awful human beings. But it would be something that I would relish and love to experience once in my life."
Mike Gordon is the Star-Advertiser’s film and television writer. Read his Outtakes Online blog at honolulupulse.com. Reach him at 529-4803 or email mgordon@staradvertiser.com.
