[Nah ah nah ah~ Kamiki Village] The original novel won the Bookstore Grand Prix and was ranked among the top ten annual bestsellers at Kinokuniya. Even the renowned director Hayao Miyazaki, after reading the novel, was full of praise and kept thinking about adapting it into a film. “While reading, I kept thinking this could be made into a movie, yet also felt it shouldn’t be turned into visuals. You can’t just want to bring every good story to the big screen.
Erika Sawajiri overcame her pollen allergy to venture deep into the mountains for her role in Nah ah nah ah~ Kamiki Village (Image provided by Tenma Kūkō)
Reading further, I couldn’t help but marvel at how incredibly fun and truly great the story is, and I started thinking about how to turn it into an animation. Eventually, I changed my mind and thought a live-action film would be better, though I wasn’t sure I could pull it off myself. This back-and-forth throughout the reading process was very satisfying.” The novel was the best-selling translated fiction title in Taiwan in 2011, and now, the long-awaited live-action adaptation is finally hitting theaters in Taiwan. Directed by Yaguchi Shinobu, who previously helmed Water Boys and Robot & Scarecrow, this marks his first adaptation work. With action, romance, emotion, a touch of cheekiness, and, of course, plenty of laughs, Director Yaguchi says, “I wanted to capture sights beyond the ordinary.” Understanding the spirit of the original work, he conducted on-site research and reimagined the production, adding many entertaining elements he personally experienced during his research—elements that even the original author highly praised after seeing the film script.
Hiroshi Tamaki also delivers a stellar performance in the film (Image provided by Tenma Kūkō)
Both lead actors, Sometani Shota and Erika Sawajiri, worked with Director Yaguchi for the first time. Sometani Shota said, “I’ve always loved Director Yaguchi’s films, but I never thought my type fit his style. I auditioned specifically because I wanted to work with him and hoped for the chance, though I didn’t expect much. So when he chose me, I was completely shocked and overjoyed.
Sometani Shota and Erika Sawajiri share some powerful scenes in the film (Image provided by Tenma Kūkō)
I had no idea what the movie was about during the audition—I only found out later that it was the film version of Nah ah nah ah~ Kamiki Village!” Erika Sawajiri also expressed her delight at working with Director Yaguchi for the first time: “Director Yaguchi is very relaxed and gentle, occasionally cracking jokes to liven up the set. His directing style is very detailed, always giving clear instructions—he’s a thoughtful director.” Alongside the eye-catching Hiroshi Tamaki, the film boasts an unexpectedly stellar cast. Other roles for the villagers of Kamiki were filled through local auditions to find the most suitable candidates—even the dog actors were carefully chosen—to faithfully bring the characters and settings of the novel to the silver screen.
Chinese poster for the film Nah ah nah ah~ Kamiki Village (Image provided by Tenma Kūkō)
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