Uchiyama Takuya Adaptation 'The Blue Breaks' Hunts Financing in Tokyo

Japanese filmmaker Uchiyama Takuya brought "The Blue Breaks," a Japan-Italy co-production based on Machiya Ryohei's 2016 novel, to this year's Tokyo Gap-Financing Market, with a shoot planned for 2027 and completion in 2028.

The film follows Shukichi, a rootless part-time worker in his thirties living at Japan's western edge. He was conceived through sperm donation. His sense of detachment deepens when he learns his girlfriend has a son she no longer has custody of, and a night with a solitary boxer of Korean descent throws his identity and sexuality into further confusion. He then meets Toko, a terminally ill young woman who smokes and smiles despite the little time she has left. Eventually Shukichi and the people around him travel to Korea together, where they reckon with one another's lives and deaths.

Uchiyama, whose previous films include "Numb," has typically written his own screenplays from personal experience. This time he connected with someone else's book for two reasons: the novel appeared in the year he started making films, and Machiya wrote it at the age Uchiyama is now. Symmetry, evidently, has its uses.

What draws the director to the story?

"Shukichi, the protagonist, struggles with the part of himself that never quite became 'manly.' I've also spent much of my life feeling uncomfortable with what society expects a man to be," Uchiyama said.

He described the characters as people whose lives look very different from one another's, and said Japan still expects everyone to be alike.

"Diversity isn't something new. It's always been there, even if we haven't always acknowledged it," Uchiyama said. "I wanted to approach these feelings with a sense of lightness, and to make a film about love that is unapologetically romantic."

Who is putting the film together?

Japanese producer Satoh Naomi of Differentia leads the project, with Parsifal Reparato of Italian company Antropica as co-producer. The team is developing the screenplay, casting and financing, and is targeting a premiere at an international festival.

Satoh said she and Uchiyama bonded over a shared sense of not fitting expected roles, whether in society or in the film business, and noted that films resisting categories can be hard to finance in Japan.

"When 'Numb' was selected for the Berlinale, it gave me real proof that Takuya's work could resonate with audiences beyond Japan," Satoh said.

In Tokyo, the producers made headway on remaining financing and searched for international co-production partners, sales agents and distributors who could carry the film beyond Japan and Italy.

Reparato said the film's appeal lies in how it rethinks family and identity. Antropica has been active in Asia for years, including in Vietnam, and sees the project as a way to deepen ties with Japanese cinema — aided by the Italy-Japan bilateral co-production framework.

"At this historical moment, building bridges is more important than ever," Reparato said.

Uchiyama has also wrapped shooting on a separate project, now in editing. The Tokyo Gap-Financing Market ran as part of TIFFCOM, the content market attached to the Tokyo International Film Festival, which suggests "The Blue Breaks" now has roughly five years to travel from a financing booth to a festival screen.