Bright, fun, and tenacious! The creativity of dialogue that resonates in the film "Interpreters for the Heart" ~Rap is the best! A "curse" on the pamphlet!~

Never giving up. It's amazing how thrilling that alone can be.

It was a film that made me wish all work could be like this one.
Even though it's not what you'd call a "work-themed" movie.

That film is "Interpreters for the Heart".

It was such a wonderful film that I decided to write down my thoughts here.

Audio guides for sign language? The synopsis of "Interpreters for the Heart".

This film is a documentary, but...
It truly proves that truth is stranger than fiction.
The story is a bit complicated. So, here is a rough synopsis.

There was once a short documentary called "Welcome to the World of Stage Sign Language Interpreting."

Stage sign language interpreting is the simultaneous interpretation of lines and emotions into sign language so that people who are deaf or hard of hearing can enjoy theater.
"Welcome to the World of Stage Sign Language Interpreting" was a work that followed three such stage sign language interpreters.

I can only say that this short documentary was also wonderful.
Throughout the entire film, the passion of the stage sign language interpreters (Mr. Kato, Ms. Mizuno, and Ms. Takada) to "convey" something comes through their hands, their expressions, and their entire bodies.

And then.
"I want to convey this moving experience to blind people somehow. Can we add an audio guide?"
That request was brought up.

In other words.
To make "sign language," a non-auditory language for deaf people, audible once again.
And to do it in a way that blind people can also be moved by it.

Huh? What does that mean?

The place where this difficult challenge was brought was a movie theater called Cinema Chupki Tabata.
It is Japan's first "universal theater" and a leader in "audio guides" that convey films to the visually impaired through words.

From there, the challenge of Mr. Hiratsuka, the representative of Cinema Chupki Tabata, begins.
It's a story about him working together with strong-willed collaborators, including visually impaired individuals and those involved in stage sign language interpreting.

See? It's complicated, right?
The theme is too complex. The characters are too diverse.

But wait.
In the end, everything comes to a close with a harmony that is brilliant and beyond imagination.
It feels so good!

The passion of Mr. Hiratsuka's team and the cooperating stage sign language interpreters to convey their message.
The emotion felt by the blind people who receive it.
The moment the audio guide was completed and functioned as the intersection of those two.
"Ah! This is it! This is the only way!"
I thought.
I was struck by the pleasure of discovering something together.

Into the world of the deaf, sign language, and the visually impaired. The audience goes on a journey with the characters.

"To make sound visible, to make light audible."
This is the tagline for this film.
I think it's a beautiful sentence that captures the appeal of the work with just the right number of words (who is the genius who thought of this?).

But this is not just empty praise.
This work truly follows the struggle to "make sound visible and light audible."
After watching it, I felt the intensity of this tagline.

Why do I want to call it intense?
Because the task of adding an audio guide to sign language is incredibly difficult.
The fact that there is no precedent speaks to its difficulty.

To begin with, explaining a film through audio so that it can be understood by those who cannot see it.
That in itself should be difficult.
It's not just about reading out everything that's on screen.
You have to accurately grasp what information is needed and verbalize it within a time limit.
And to convey emotion, being concise isn't enough. You must also pursue the right words and sounds.

It would be even more difficult if the thing being verbalized is the "language" of sign language.
If you just realistically verbalize those actions, it would be gibberish to someone who doesn't understand the language.
But if you translate the meaning that sign language conveys, it's just a dub.
It should no longer be a question of whether the audience can see or not.

On top of that, the delicate nuances and complexity of "Japanese Sign Language," which is a full-fledged natural language, increase the difficulty.
I learned for the first time that while it's called sign language, it uses the arms, eyes, facial expressions, and even the entire upper body.
Deep Deaf culture pulses in the background, so a correct audio guide is impossible without understanding that.

So naturally, creating an audio guide for sign language is not straightforward.
At one point, there was quite a bit of friction from the stage sign language interpreters.
Mr. Hiratsuka and his team, who are creating it with their cooperation, also repeat trial and error.

The audience, including myself, witnesses that process in detail.
Opening the door to the world of the Deaf and sign language, learning a lot along the way. And of course, about visual impairment as well.
It's like being a traveler who can't stop looking around in front of a new horizon.
At this point, it can be said that it is a film from which you can learn a lot.

Refreshing persistence. Feeling hope in the creativity of dialogue.

When Mr. Hiratsuka and his team started working on the audio version, I was with them, thinking,
"Isn't this impossible?"
I was at a loss.

However, that sense of helplessness gradually turned into
"Huh? Maybe we can manage this?"
a sense of expectation.

And then it turned into excitement:
"Oh! Could it be that it's actually going to work out?"

And that's no surprise.
None of the characters give up.
Mr. Hiratsuka's team, of course, as well as the cooperating stage sign language interpreting team and the visually impaired supervisors.

They just don't let difficulties get them down.
No, even if they are discouraged, they don't stop talking to each other.
As if they are enjoying it.
The character portrayals were careful, so my empathy was all the greater.

Bright, fun, and tenacious.
With a refreshing refusal to give up, they keep talking, saying this and that, and it crystallizes into an audio guide.
Moreover, it is a pleasant work that harmonizes content and means as an expression.

People who can't see. People who can't hear. People who are neither.
Creativity that didn't exist in the world yet, created by people who you would never think could understand each other.
Shall I call it the joy of witnessing its birth?
To me, that moment felt like the greatest hope.
If you don't give up on communication, you might encounter something beyond it.

I think it's okay to be a little more excited about that creativity.
I have been satisfied with stopping my thinking by simplifying things that cannot be simplified.
For me, the completed audio guide resonated as something precious.

Ah. It really is finished.
The expressions of the people who did such good work, projected on the screen.
A gentle thrill.
When the end credits finished, I was clapping softly.

What exactly is the completed audio guide like?
That can only be conveyed by listening to the audio guide itself.
Perhaps there is some arrogance in me as someone who can see and hear.
But I felt that this is a film I want many people—people who live by communicating—to see.

The trailer is here.

The ending theme rap is the best. The cute pamphlet comes with a 'curse'.

So, this is a fantastic film.
But there are other great things about it besides the main feature.

One of them is the ending theme, 'Yuuki no Uta' (Song of Courage).
It was written by Takayoshi Shirai, who cooperated in the production of this audio guide,
and it is a song that everyone sings together.

What is especially good isKensuke Ishii's rap part.
It is a poetic rap that is reminiscent of the 90s TOKYO No.1 SOUL SET.
TBS Radio's After 6 JunctionI heard him say
"I did a rap"
and I was looking forward to it, and it was really good.
For those who love the LB Nation, it's irresistible.
(I'm glad it wasn't some intense hardcore rap)

The lyrics were introduced in the pamphlet, so I will share two verses.
"I gave up on giving up, so we were able to embrace each other. The baton of the heart you passed to me, spreads gentle ripples within me."

It is worth going just to listen to this song.

And speaking of the pamphlet.

The quality of this pamphlet is very high.
The coloring is pale, elegant, and cute.
It contains not only information about the film, but also about stage sign language interpretation and even how to make sweets.
It is very fun to read like a magazine, even just as a piece of literature, but...

This is the back cover.
In keeping with the theme of the film, it is embossed with Braille.
Isn't that stylish? What do you think it says?

"Curse"

Why!?

It seems they made a mistake when typing the Braille.
They intended to type "heart" (kokoro),
but it ended up being "curse" (tatari).
Even if it is a heart, it's the dark side. The exact opposite of the film!

After the screening, the representative, Mr. Hiratsuka, laughed about it during his greeting.
I, too, never expected to leave the theater laughing after watching such a moving film.
I will likely never forget this film, if only for this episode.

When I bought it, it seems it was from the first batch of 100 copies.
It might be sold out by now.
I hope they don't fix it even if they print more.
If you visit the theater, it is a must-buy item.

When I got home and told my wife about how wonderful the film was.
Me: "By the way, all the films at Chupki Tabata have audio guides. Does that mean this film has an audio guide too?"
Wife: "How should I know?"
Me: "So that means it's a film with an audio guide for sign language, which also has an audio guide? Isn't that complicated?"
Wife: "You skipped work to go see it and didn't even listen to it?"
Me: "I was careless."
Wife: "That's just like you."
Me: "..."
The "curse" on the pamphlet had a pretty immediate effect.

I am debating whether to go back to Chupki Tabata to confirm the "audio guide for a film that has an audio guide for sign language."

That is all. Thank you for reading until the end.