Rialto 5:15

The award-winning director on making Dear Stranger, his first English-language feature and a cross-cultural study of love under pressure.

Tetsuya Mariko’s Dear Stranger marks a bold new chapter: his first English-language, internationally co-produced feature. The film had its Japanese theatrical debut on 12 September 2025, and shortly thereafter embarked on its international journey with a screening at the 30th Busan International Film Festival.

In Dear Stranger, Mariko shifts from the visceral teenage scenes of Destruction Babies to a deeply emotional tale of family bonds tested by crisis. The narrative follows a Japanese professor, Kenji, and his Taiwanese-American wife, Jane, whose lives in New York unravel when their young son disappears.

In the following conversation, Mariko reflects on why he chose New York as his stage, how bridging languages and cultures shaped his directing, and why Dear Stranger is less about moral judgment than about the fragile silence between people trying to love amid fear.

Rialto 5:15: Dear Stranger is your first English-language and international co-production. What drew you to tell this story in New York, and how did working across languages and cultures shape your directing process?

私はこの作品を制作する前に1年間、アメリカのボストンに滞在していました。日本に帰国する飛行機の中で、国家異常事態宣言が発令され、世界が前触れなく一変しました。帰国してすぐにアメリカに住む友人に連絡を取り、しばらくして日本でも緊急事態宣言が発令され、世界中の家族の食卓のビデオを送ってもらい、作品を制作しました。完成する頃に海外との距離を近く感じるようになり、また社会の最小単位である家族に着目して脚本と執筆を始めました。

Before making this film, I spent a year in Boston. On the flight back to Japan, a national state of emergency was declared, and the world suddenly changed without warning. As soon as I got home, I reached out to friends living in the U.S. Soon after, Japan also went into lockdown. I asked families around the world to send me videos of their dinner tables, and out of that, I made a film. By the time it was finished, I felt closer to people overseas, and I began focusing on the family, the smallest unit of society, when I started writing this script.

それから、まず私たちはアメリカでの撮影の仕方を学ぶ必要がありました。そのためにシカゴで短編映画を制作し、トライアンドエラーをしながら長編映画の準備を進めていきました。その頃には脚本の大筋は見えてきて、賢治とジェーンが生活しているだけでも経済的に厳しい環境で生活していることは有意義だと思い、ニューヨークでの撮影を選択しました。

We first needed to learn how to film in the U.S., so we shot a short film in Chicago as a kind of trial-and-error exercise while preparing for the feature. By then the broad outline of the script was clear, and I thought it would be meaningful to show Kenji and Jane struggling to get by in a tough economic environment. That’s why I chose to set it in New York.

当然ながらスタッフはアメリカ在住であり、コミュニケーションには細心の注意を払って進めていきました。初めから私たちの課題はコミュニケーションにあるのが分かっていたため、脚本もできる限り初めて読む人にも伝わるように書き込み、また全てのシーンの撮影の前に30分間の本読みをすることをスケジュールに組み込みました。お互いを理解し合えるスタッフに恵まれたことで、撮影に関する全てのことが丁寧に勧められたことは、有意義だったと思います。

Of course, most of the crew were based in the U.S., so I took great care with communication. From the beginning, I knew this would be our biggest challenge. I wrote the script to be as clear as possible for anyone reading it for the first time, and we scheduled a 30-minute table read before shooting each scene. Thanks to a team that really tried to understand one another, everything about the shoot moved forward carefully and respectfully, it was a joy.

Rialto 5:15: Your earlier films like Destruction Babies dealt with violence, youth, and alienation. How do you see Dear Stranger continuing, or breaking away from, those concerns?

私自身が過去の作品を意識して制作していたわけではありませんが、オリジナルである以上、継承されている部分は多分にあったと思います。少なくとも脚本を確認あたって、私が興味を引かれた部分は大いに関連があると思います。ディストラクションベイビーズはほとんど災害のように前触れもなく動物のような主人公が現れて、社会を混乱に及ぼすことを描き、宮本から君へでは、まだ若い二人の間に唐突に訪れた恐怖と混乱、その先で2人はどう生きていくかを描きました。そして、今作のディアストレンジャーでは家族の間に唐突に訪れる事件とそこから生じる不安や猜疑心とともに、愛とは何かというものを描きました。

I wasn’t consciously thinking about my past work while making this, but since the script was original, there are naturally many connections. At the very least, the themes that drew me in feel very much related. Destruction Babies was about a protagonist who suddenly appears, like a natural disaster, wreaking havoc on society. Miyamoto explored the fear and confusion that suddenly strike a young couple and how they find a way forward. And in Dear Stranger, I wanted to portray how an unexpected incident within a family creates anxiety, suspicion, and forces them to confront what love really is.

共通しているのは物語の中で唐突な災難のようなことが起きること。そしてその先の社会や家族がどう生きていくのかということかもしれません。また暴力であったり愛であったり、一言では簡単には説明できない感情を捉えようとしたのは、形を変えながら継承し発展しているようにも思います。

What ties them together is the sudden arrival of something disruptive, almost like a calamity, and then watching how people, whether in society or in a family, live on from there. Violence, love, these are emotions that can’t be explained in a single word. I feel like I’ve been trying to capture them in different forms, and that search has both continued and evolved.

Rialto 5:15: The film seems to pivot on a marriage under pressure. Were you more interested in the psychology of family, the immigrant experience, or the difficulty of communication between cultures?

ここにあげられた3つの事柄は全て関心があり、ただ、それらを殊更、強調するのではなく、彼らの生活には常に存在することとして描いていきました。私が来たかったのはごく当たり前にアメリカで生きているアジア系夫婦の話であり、コミュニケーションを十分にとっている夫婦にも話せていない後ろめたいことがあるのもよくあることです。できる限り彼らの視座に立ち、懸命に生きる先によりマシな未来があることを描きたいと思っています。

I’m interested in all three, but I didn’t want to emphasise them in a heavy-handed way. I tried to depict them simply as realities that are always present in this couple’s life. What I wanted to show was an Asian couple living very ordinarily in America. Even couples who communicate well often have unspoken feelings or guilty secrets, that’s common. My aim was to stand as close as possible to their point of view and show that even amid hardship, there’s always the possibility of a slightly better future.

Rialto 5:15: Busan often highlights works that feel urgent in Asia but also resonate globally. What do you feel is the universal nerve Dear Stranger touches?

まず映画の内容から外れますが、私はこの映画が完成したことが大きな可能性を秘めていると思っております。自分で立ち上げた会社ROJIでで企画を立ち上げ、アジアから様々な経験を持った仲間たちが集まり、アメリカを舞台に様々な困難を乗り越え、多国籍のインディペンデント映画を撮影しました。過去に日本からディアストレンジャーのような挑戦をした映画は見当たりません。映画は自由であり、何者にも縛られず、最後までお互いを尊重し合い、制作されるものが普遍的であるべきですが、それがなかなか成し得ないのも事実です。

Strictly speaking, this isn’t about the story, but I think the very completion of this film carries a lot of potential. The project was launched by ROJI, the company I founded, which brought together collaborators from across Asia with diverse backgrounds. Together, we filmed in the U.S., overcoming many obstacles to realize a truly multinational independent film. I can hardly think of a Japanese film that has attempted something quite like Dear Stranger. Cinema should be free, unbound, and made with mutual respect. That’s universal, but in reality it’s very difficult to achieve.

また描いている物語はどこの国でもある家族の姿であり、彼らは常にお互いを思い合いだからこそすれ違う姿を描いています。私はディアストレンジャーが普遍的な共鳴を持って観客に届くことを願っています。

The story itself is about a family, as something that exists everywhere. Because they care for each other, they also clash and drift apart. I hope Dear Stranger reaches audiences with that sense of universal resonance.

Rialto 5:15: You’ve said in past interviews that your films are not moral lessons but explorations. With Dear Stranger, what kinds of questions did you want to leave unanswered for the audience?

物語の終盤で賢治は自らのマスキュリティに従い、子供を守るためには自らを犠牲となるしかないと選択します。妻のジェーンはそれを望んではいません。彼女が望む家族の形は賢治とはまた違ったもので、彼女はそれまでになかった情熱を持って賢治を説得します。つまり、彼らがそれぞれ考えている家族の形は違ったまま、ラストシーンを迎えます。この映画は見る人の性別や年齢などで、それぞれの意見や感想を持つことになります。愛の解釈のように、その答えは1つではなく、きっとどれも間違っていないし、それでいいんじゃないの？というのが問いかもしれません。

Near the end, Kenji follows his sense of masculinity and chooses to sacrifice himself to protect his child. Jane doesn’t want that. Her idea of family is different from his, and for the first time she passionately argues against him. In other words, they reach the final scene still holding different visions of what family means.

Depending on the viewer’s gender, age, or background, each person will walk away with their own opinion or feeling about that. Just like love, the answer isn’t singular, there isn’t one “right” interpretation. That’s the question I wanted to leave with the audience: maybe it’s okay that there isn’t just one answer.

Rialto 5:15: Many critics have described your style as raw and uncompromising. Do you embrace that reading, or do you think critics misframe your intentions?

私はスタンリーキューブリックのような完璧主義ではなく、黒沢明のような豪快な演出をするわけでもなく、小津安二郎のような精緻な美的センスもありません。ジョンカサベテスのように今ここで起きてるような生々しい表現に憧れ、レオスカラックスのいたずらのようなデタラメさに映画として感銘を受けます。批評家による解釈は間違っていません。いろんな映画の洗礼を浴びて、いま自分ができるすべてを賭けて映画と向き合っています。

I’m not a perfectionist like Stanley Kubrick, nor do I direct with the bold force of Kurosawa, nor do I have Ozu’s refined aesthetic sense. I admire Cassavetes for his raw, lived-in expression, and I’m inspired by the playful chaos of Leos Carax. So I don’t think the critics are wrong. I’ve been immersed in all kinds of cinema, and right now I throw everything I have into facing film with all I can do.

Rialto 5:15: How did you work with Hidetoshi Nishijima and Gwei Lun-mei to capture such a fractured, intimate relationship? Were there creative tensions in directing across languages and cultures?

もしかしたら彼らの芝居へのアプローチが素晴らしい親密な関係を作り上げたのかもしれません。西島さんは全てが作り物である。映画に登場して本物であるかのように信じさせてくれる絵が俳優です。ルンメイさんはありのままの姿でカメラの前に登場してまるで自然のままに演じきることができる俳優です。彼らはお互いのアプローチが違うからこそ惹かれ合い、まるで磁石のS と N のようにしっかりと信頼関係を作ってくれたように思います。そこには言語や文化の障壁はなく、彼らは私のことも信頼し、私の想像以上に演じてくれました。現場ではいつも新しいものが生まれる気持ちの良い緊張感がありました。

It may be that their approaches to acting are what created such intimacy. Nishijima-san is an actor who can take something entirely constructed and make it feel utterly real on screen. Gwei Lun-mei, on the other hand, brings her natural self before the camera and performs as if it were the most organic thing. Because their methods were so different, they were drawn to each other, like the north and south poles of a magnet.

There were no barriers of language or culture between them. They trusted me, too, and gave performances beyond what I imagined. On set, there was always a pleasant tension, a sense that something new was being born in every moment.

Rialto 5:15: This is Toei’s first English-language live-action feature. Did having a major studio behind you create more freedom, more pressure, or both?

先ほども触れましたが、この企画は自分で立ち上げたロジという会社から始めました。もちろん今回は撮影場所がアメリカであり、現場の人間関係はほぼ全て私たちで作ってきましたが、日本で劇場公開できるのも東映がいたからこそだと思って、感謝しています。予算の限られたインディペンデントが気にすることはいつも同じで、それ以外のプレッシャーはありませんでしたが、インディペンデントの映画作家と大手映画会社が尊重し協力し合えることを望んでいます。アニメーションが盛り上がりをみせる今、国内外に関わらず実写の制作者が共に手を取り合い、映画を制作できることが私の理想です。

As I touched earlier, this project began with my own company, ROJI. Shooting in the U.S. meant we had to build almost all of the working relationships on set ourselves. The theatrical release in Japan has been made possible thanks to Toei, and I truly appreciate that support. At the same time, the challenges we faced were no different from those any independent film with a limited budget must contend with—nothing beyond that. Looking ahead, I truly hope that independent filmmakers and major studios can find ways to respect and collaborate with each other. Right now animation is booming, but my ideal is for live-action filmmakers, both inside and outside Japan, to join forces and make films together.

Rialto 5:15: Japanese cinema is having a global moment with Hamaguchi, Kore-eda, and others winning at Cannes and Venice. How do you see yourself in that landscape, and do you think of your work in relation to theirs?

日本映画において、私は自由な位置にあるように感じています。どこにも属さずに、どことも同じ系譜であるような、分かりやすいけど捉えにくい立ち位置かもしれません。東京芸大でいえば、黒沢清さんと北野武さんが教授でしたが、蓮實重彦からの黒沢清、そして濱口竜介のように考えるとしても撮影所自体のような直接的な継承ではなく、大島渚や深作欣二からの北野武と考えても明確な継承はないように思います。つまり私は雑種であり、いつだって噛みつく覚悟で生きています。

In Japanese cinema, I feel like I occupy a free position. I don’t really belong anywhere, yet I’m somehow connected to multiple lineages, it’s easy to label but hard to pin down.

At Tokyo University of the Arts, for instance, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Takeshi Kitano were professors. But even if you think of a lineage from Shigehiko Hasumi to Kiyoshi Kurosawa to someone like Ryusuke Hamaguchi, it’s not a direct succession rooted in the studio system. And even if you consider Kitano as following in the line of Nagisa Oshima or Kinji Fukasaku, it’s hard to see any clear inheritance at that point. I feel like I’m a hybrid, always poised to break against the current when needed.

それは活動初期からそうでした。当初私は映画学校ではなく、すでに誰も扱っていなかった8mmフィルムで何本か短編映画を作って評価をいただきました。あの頃から好き勝手やってる印象があったと何人かの映画関係者から聞いています。私は常に映画美学に憧れ、脈々とした映画史に学び、自分なりのやり方を模索しています。果たして、海外からみてどのような立ち位置なのか、私がもう少し本数重ねたところで見えてくるのかもしれません。

That’s how it was from the start. I didn’t go to film school; instead, I made several shorts on 8mm film, which no one was using anymore, and that got me some recognition. People in the industry told me even back then that I seemed to just do whatever I wanted. I’ve always admired film aesthetics, learned from cinema history, and searched for my own way. Maybe after I’ve made a few more films, it’ll become clearer how I’m seen from an overseas perspective.

Rialto 5:15: Finally, you’ve spoken before about film as confrontation. What do you want audiences in Busan, and later in Europe, to confront when they watch Dear Stranger?

質問の趣旨が掴みかねますが、米国にいる際に、私自身もアジアは遠い国だと感じて、自分自身がアジア系でありながら欧米からのオリエンタリズムらしきものが想像できました。もしかしたらそれは、同じ国に移り住んだ移民にも思うのかも知れないし、私の抱いた疎外感や劣等感も同様かもしれません。そうした異文化に対する興味とか不安の源は、相手に原因があるのではなく、その人自身にあるように思います。

I’m not entirely sure I grasp the premise of the question, but when I was in the U.S., I often felt Asia was a distant place, even though I myself am Asian. I could imagine the kind of Orientalism that comes from the West. Perhaps immigrants living in the same country feel something similar. The alienation or inferiority I felt may not have been caused by others but by something within myself.

ディアストレンジャーでのコミュニケーションのすれ違いは言語や文化の違いはあくまで表層的なことで、彼らはお互いを思い合いながら、事件をきっかけに無理解や誤解から疑心暗鬼になり、対立が生じています。まずは自分自身を顧みて、思案した上で行動を起こすことから世界は変わっていくのではないでしょうか？映画の観客にはモヤモヤしたことがあれば理解不能だと切り捨てることなく、誰かと意見を交換することが、新しい価値を見出してもらえるのではないかと思います。

The miscommunication in Dear Stranger isn’t really about language or culture, that’s only the surface. The couple still care for each other, but after the incident, misunderstandings and mistrust build up into conflict. I think change begins when people first reflect on themselves and then act from there.

For the audience, I hope if something feels unresolved, they won’t just dismiss it as incomprehensible. Instead, exchanging thoughts with someone else may help uncover new values.

As Dear Stranger moves beyond Busan and toward its international release, Mariko’s position in contemporary Japanese cinema feels newly defined. His first English-language feature proves he can carry his sharp, questioning realism across cultures without losing its core. It’s a film that tests communication, trust, and endurance, not just on screen, but within the process of filmmaking itself.