The once-thriving Japanese indie scene is in trouble , nearly everyone who has anything to do with it agrees: Its core young audience has been seduced by the dubious delights of the multiplex, while the "mini theaters" (art houses) and small distributors that could once count on the occasional indie hit to keep them afloat are either closing their doors or shifting their strategies.
As a consequence, many indie filmmakers are finding their budgets shrinking or vanishing altogether. I don't know whether Nobuteru Uchida is among the financially hard-pressed, but this two-time winner at the Pia Film Festival, Japan's leading discoverer of indie talent, came up with a production plan for his third feature, "Fuyu no Kemono (Love Addiction)," worthy of emulation in both its simplicity and cheapness.
His entire film, winner of the Grand Prize at the 2010 Filmex film festival, is essentially four talented young actors and a handful of locations — a train station passageway, an apartment and the rural countryside — that looks to have required no permissions, sets or preparations beyond basic lighting.