I'd met Satoshi Miki several times before interviewing him for "Instant Numa." Our senses of humor mesh well enough that the recording of the interview often sounds like a sitcom laugh track.

One big theme of the film seems to be "like parents, like daughter." (laughs)

I was thinking of something else, actually — that kids often want to be the opposite of their parents. A boy with an alcoholic father will often become a teetotaler. But in a lot of films you see that the kid who disapproves of his parents gradually comes to understand them — and realize that he's a lot like them. My film follows that pattern.