Filmmaking Without a Script: Nobuhiro Suwa's Improvisational Direction and Long-Take Techniques
The Foundations of Improvisational Direction
The defining feature of Nobuhiro Suwa's visual style is his improvisational directing technique: rather than preparing a finished script, he shapes scenes through repeated dialogue with actors on set. This method has affinities with the approaches of Mike Leigh and Jacques Rivette, incorporating performances born spontaneously from close collaboration with actors. Instead of preparing a detailed screenplay before filming, Suwa establishes only the basic premise and situations, building the story through creative dialogue with actors on location.
In his debut 2/Duo and the subsequent M/OTHER, he actively incorporated the process of actors improvising their characters' emotions and dialogue. This filmmaking without a script successfully captures extremely natural, realistic nuances of human relationships on screen. Rather than simply playing assigned roles, actors become part of the force creating the story, producing performances with unprecedented freedom and tension.
This method established a distinctive style in which the story emerges through collaboration between filmmaker and actors. On Suwa's sets, truthful expression that can arise only in that moment is pursued without the constraints of a script. Because actors are constantly placed in unpredictable situations, they show instinctive, natural reactions rather than calculated performances. This process creates the realism characteristic of his films.
An Observational Visual Style Through Long Takes
Another important characteristic of Nobuhiro Suwa's work is an observational visual style that frequently uses carefully planned long takes. Filming a scene in a single take captures subtle character movements and the atmosphere of a place without interruption, bringing a documentary-like realism. Viewers gain an immersive sense of being present and experience time as though it were flowing exactly as it does in reality.
The final scene of H Story uses a long take effectively: the still camera's view of Hiroshima and the characters' presence leave a deep resonance with viewers. This technique involves more than simply filming for a long time; camera shake, environmental sounds, and even the space within silence become part of the direction. By respecting real time, viewers share the same time as the characters and can empathize more deeply.
Suwa's long takes also suggest the breadth of life beyond what is visible in the image. Characters coming and going and voices heard from off screen emphasize the presence of space outside the frame. His belief that “what establishes the frame is the space outside the image” offers a perspective that greatly expands the possibilities of visual expression. By stimulating the imagination about what is not shown, his direction creates a sense of infinite expanse within a limited frame.
The Boundary Between Rehearsal and the Actual Take
Suwa's directing method establishes the boundary between rehearsal and the actual take in a distinctive way. His emphasis on improvisation leads him to avoid excessive rehearsal so performances do not become fixed, valuing the real reactions that first arise during the actual take. This policy keeps actors in fresh, unpredictable situations and draws out natural, uncalculated expression.
On set, shot divisions are also kept to the minimum necessary, and he sometimes allows actors to continue performing rather than immediately calling cut during a take. This method keeps them tense and focused while the camera is running, producing raw performances that resemble real life. The trust established between director and actors makes this unusual shooting method possible.
Mistakes and unexpected events are also actively incorporated into the work on Suwa's sets. Chance and raw immediacy unique to the moment are valued over perfectly prepared acting. Actors may forget dialogue or become so emotional that they act differently from what was planned, but these “accidents” are the essence of Suwa's cinema. This attitude establishes a more human, organic creative method at the opposite end from a perfectionist approach to filmmaking.
Establishing a Distinctive Realist Direction
The filmmaking techniques Nobuhiro Suwa established are supported by the realism of improvisation and long takes, and by a distinctive realist direction encompassing space both within and outside the image. This method is valued as an individual cinematic language rarely found among other Japanese directors and has attracted considerable international attention. Without clear plots in his works, viewers are encouraged to interpret actively, each trying to read the characters' feelings and the meanings of scenes.
By making the viewing experience itself participatory and conversational, a new relationship between film and audience is established. In 2/Duo, the drama is completed when viewers themselves sense the unease drifting through seemingly ordinary cohabitation; in H Story, the process of discovering the work's intention becomes part of watching it. This cinematic language that draws audiences in offers a fresh perspective on how people engage with film.
Suwa's directing techniques can be positioned as one achievement of new realist expression in contemporary cinema. His approach of depicting everyday nuances while excluding excessive direction and explanation forms a current with affinities to the work of contemporaries such as Hirokazu Kore-eda, Shinji Aoyama, Miwa Nishikawa, and Ryusuke Hamaguchi. In particular, his approach has a European auteurist character, greatly expanding the diversity of Japanese cinema through expression of an international standard unconstrained by a specifically Japanese context. Using improvisation and realism to build a distinctive cinematic poetics, Suwa's techniques will continue to influence many filmmakers.
