Mommy or Daddy?, directed by John H. LaDue Jr, tells of Rie ‘Rita’ Shishikura, a woman banned from seeing her son Hizuki following their divorce. The resulting alienation from her only child sent Rita’s life into a tailspin that eventually led to a suicide attempt and resuscitation in the Emergency Room. Through the process of recovery, Rita’s self-pity turns into a desire to see her son again, sending her on a journey that brings unexpected allies into her world. Along with her newfound friends – from a group striving to reunite children with their parents – Rita discovers both the will to live and her purpose in life. LaDue Jr. talks about this absorbing film, released in December.
Tell us when and where you cut your teeth as a filmmaker?
My parents moved to Japan from Hawaii when I was just a year old, and I lived in Tokyo until graduating from high school. I spent my childhood filming movies using my siblings as actors and recording on an enormous straight to VHS camcorder. I wanted to create films in Hollywood, so I studied film and TV production in southern california and did internships at studios in Hollywood. But my a friend from uni, who also worked in Hollywood, advised me to go make films in Japan. He told me the industry in LA was oversaturated and I would stand out more in Japan, especially since I was fluent in Japanese and Mandarine Chinese. After moving back to Tokyo, I got a job as a TV documentary producer at NHK, the BBC of Japan. It was there that I fell in love with documentary filmmaking as I had always wanted to make fiction narrative features.
Documentaries had the gritty realness I wanted to create, and I fell in love with the medium. Although I have been creating documentaries and news features for NHK for 13 years, Mommy or Daddy? is my first feature documentary film that I created independently with my company Kintsugi Pictures.
What a fascinating film. Where did the interest come from?
Someone very close to my sister Jennifer and I–we’ll call him Jerry–since we can’t discuss his situation for legal reasons … came home one night to find his partner, children, and much of the things in his home gone. Jennifer and I walked Jerry through the process of greiving and stood by him as he tried to gather the broken pieces of his life and start from scratch. Even though both of us grew up in Japan, we had no idea that something like this could happen in a developed nation like Japan.
We soon discovered that it was very common indeed, and a woman, Rie the main character in the film, who we had gone to high school with also had lost access to her son for 12 years. After hearing her story, we knew we had to document her journey.
Was it always the plan to utilize animation? Who is responsible for the remarkable animation?
Also, I think it documentary filmmaking their are alot of events, memories, and scenes that we are unable to film, and i believe animation is an effective medium to add to the live action portions. It also gives a breather and pace keeing element when spliced in between live action documentary portions of the film.
I have already asked Graham Fleming to work on our next film ‘Children of the Sun’ with us, for the animation portions. This is some of his work, and I love the feel of his animation
Have you a personal connection to the film?
Our close friend is like a brother to me and I stood with him as he went through the dark night after he came home to his empty house. Since Rie went to the same high school as Jennifer(my Japanese adopted sister and co-director of the film) and myself, we felt a personal responsibility to spotlight the issue and try to get a conversation going in Japan about the trauma caused by the separation of parent and child. Hopefully as Japanese people fill out the government poll about whether to introduce a bill next January on joint custody, they will ponder the stories in the film and make a more nuanced decision.
What do you hope audiences get out of it?
Divorce is extremely common in this day and age, and a lot of times children experience severe emotional and mental stress or even abuse in the process. I would like my audience to think about how our actions as adults, even in the heat of the moment in such messy things like divorce, can permanently impact children. Even if it’s not restricting access to the other parent, negative comments about the other parent can leave deep scars on kids, and can take a whole lot of therapy to heal.
I also wanted to explore the theme of lonlieness and connection. Especially during the pandemic-post pandemic era as loneliness and mental health are a huge issue. I hope Rie’s story will touch the hearts of my audience and encourage them whenever possible to go on their own journeys toward connection. The film will be released on Amazon Prime, Google Play, Tubi and Vimeo on Demand from Dec 10th.
Where to Watch
- kintsugijapan.com
- Japan/Amazon Prime Beginning December 10th 2022
- US/ UK: Amazon Prime, Google Play – Beginning December 10th 2022
- Worldwide Vimeo on Demand