'Sayonara' was made intriguing by the director's revelation that he is bisexual. Alfian initiated his 'outing' by asking why he did not choose to feature a same-sex separation but rather a heterosexual one. The director shared that the film was reminiscent of his actual experience with his last girlfriend. I began to imagine what the girl would think if she was present at the screening.
In the film, a couple on the Singapore MRT platform is finishing off their relationship. The dialogue is in Japanese while the visuals are in black and white. This seems to create a dual effect of intensifying the anguish but also alienating us from the situation. Perhaps, the director chose Japanese because the language can be phonetically melancholic. And movies being the escape they are for many people ,even filmmakers, we want to locate the drama as far away from home as possible. However, I personally felt several visual cliches in the train platform made it difficult to 'escape' with the characters. This could be due to the fact that the filming was done entirely guerilla style knowing how SMRT could almost occupy the entire film budget if they toed the line.
In the film, a couple on the Singapore MRT platform is finishing off their relationship. The dialogue is in Japanese while the visuals are in black and white. This seems to create a dual effect of intensifying the anguish but also alienating us from the situation. Perhaps, the director chose Japanese because the language can be phonetically melancholic. And movies being the escape they are for many people ,even filmmakers, we want to locate the drama as far away from home as possible. However, I personally felt several visual cliches in the train platform made it difficult to 'escape' with the characters. This could be due to the fact that the filming was done entirely guerilla style knowing how SMRT could almost occupy the entire film budget if they toed the line.