Mitsuo Yanagimachi is enjoying a moment in the sun after nearly a decade in the twilight: His new film "Camus Nante Shiranai (Who's Camus Anyway?)" was screened in the Director's Fortnight section at Cannes, picked up for distribution in the United States and showered with rave reviews from everywhere.
Yanagimachi, however, is not quite ready to play the smoothly affable comeback kid: In an interview at the Ginza office of his distributor, he was more inclined to engage than spin, with a quick smile, ready wit and an open manner verging on the bluff, but also with flashes of a tougher, pricklier side. If I were his student (he taught film at Waseda for three years), I'd come to class prepared, both to avoid his wrath and keep up with his restless, probing mind.
None of the main characters are quite what they seem. They're are all playing roles. At the same time there is a balance between them.