![\"\"](\"https:\/\/platform.theverge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/S444414-R1-E026.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0,100,100\")
<\/a>![\"Director](\"https:\/\/platform.theverge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/S444414-R1-E027.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0,100,100\")
<\/a><\/p>\nDirector Sho Miyake Robyn Kanner<\/p>\n
This interview has been edited for clarity.<\/p>\n
You did an interview recently in Nowness Asia<\/a> where you said you really liked characters that are clumsy but honest. What about that do you like?<\/p>\n To be honest, I think for myself, almost in a bad sense, I\u2019m a bit too slick in that I can find ways to kind of be dishonest with myself or lie to myself. So I think that it\u2019s aspirational when my characters are clumsy, but at least very honest. It\u2019s something that I aspire to.<\/p>\n Small, Slow But Steady was the first film of yours that I saw. When you look back on it, are there any lessons that you take away?<\/p>\n I think that there are many things that I learned from making Small, Slow But Steady, but I\u2019ll give one example and I think it\u2019s just reflected in the title. I feel that that is how I approach filmmaking. I think that Small, Slow But Steady reflects not only my approach to filmmaking, but also how I see that the world might change. When I was younger, I thought things don\u2019t change overnight, but now I see that these small invisible efforts, the culmination of these can lead to greater changes both in society. But also when I think about my filmmaking, each cut, each scene is incredibly important that I need to approach them very carefully so that maybe that one scene isn\u2019t enough to impress anyone. But the culmination is what creates a good film.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a moment in Small, Slow But Steady where you just show the dust that\u2019s in the boxing gym. It felt like such a relaxed decision.<\/p>\n That\u2019s actually one of my favorite shots in the film and it felt very indulgent in a sense because I had all these stars and actors on set, but there we were waking up early in the morning to film dust that\u2019s clinging to the air. So I think that shot is an example of how I want to show these ordinarily invisible things and make sure that we don\u2019t overlook them. And I feel myself and the staff were really caught by how moving and important that shot felt, just to be able to film dust that\u2019s illuminated for a second in the morning.<\/p>\n Your latest film, Two Seasons, Two Strangers, opens with a protagonist writing a script. It\u2019s a very serene, picturesque setup. What\u2019s your ideal writing environment?<\/p>\n First and foremost, I want to be able to walk around my neighborhood and find a really pleasant street to walk down, because of course when I\u2019m writing, I want to be at a desk in the quiet. But as I\u2019m walking is usually when I get my best ideas.<\/p>\n These characters are grappling with a lot of existential human questions. Why was that imperative for you to explore?<\/p>\n That\u2019s a very deep question and it\u2019s hard to answer, but I think that even from when I was very young and even when I was a child, I thought a lot about why we are alive. And I don\u2019t mean to say that in, like, a depressed sense. It was more just a genuine sense of curiosity around that question.<\/p>\n But then as you get older, I find that the question gets weightier and heavier. And when I think too much about it, maybe it leads me to feel a little down. But if I try to change the form of that question: Why do we make films? Why do we make photographs? Why do we paint pictures? Just changing the format of that question makes me feel very positively about that. And I think that in this new film, it\u2019s about: Why do we write stories? Why do we go and travel? <\/p>\n I think in those ways it is thinking about human existence, but kind of from this oblique place. And of course in Small, Slow But Steady, why does Keiko want to continue boxing? So I think that around those questions, the foundational thing is like, Why are we alive and why do we do what we do?<\/p>\n A still from Two Seasons, Two Strangers Several Futures<\/p>\n Two Seasons, Two Strangers is a structurally ambitious film, in that we\u2019re following the screenwriter\u2019s personal story and the film she\u2019s written. I saw a bit of Hong Sangsoo and Ryusuke Hamaguchi in it. Were those directors inspiring for you?<\/p>\n Of course, the two directors that you mentioned are incredibly important to me, but I think the base of this film and the biggest inspiration was Buster Keaton\u2019s Sherlock Jr. In the film, Buster Keaton is a projectionist and he\u2019s trying to enter into the world of films. And I think that film is exploring the idea of what is cinema and what is cinema\u2019s relationship to life. It\u2019s also kind of the first moment that we see a film within a film. So I think that was my biggest inspiration.<\/p>\n Your films tend to rely on characters who are struggling with something low stakes that feels very high stakes. Is that thread continued in your next project?<\/p>\n That\u2019s an interesting thing that you point out about my characters. Actually, the film that I\u2019m currently editing features a protagonist that instead of acting for themselves is acting for others. So that has really shifted the structure of the film, and I think it\u2019s a new approach for myself. Whether my characters are acting out of interest for themselves or for others, all of my films are about how a character interacts with and tries to better the community around them. So I guess I\u2019ve shifted from characters that focus on the happiness of themselves to perhaps with this new film, a character that\u2019s mostly focused on the happiness of others.<\/p>\n This is a nerdy question, but your last two films before Two Seasons, Two Strangers were shot on film. But Two Seasons, Two Strangers is on digital, yeah?<\/p>\n Why did you choose to shoot this one on digital?<\/p>\n There are two reasons, the first being very technical that the film was going to be shot in the ocean and then very like subzero temperatures, and I think it was too risky to shoot on film.<\/p>\n And the second is kind of more at the core of this decision, but it comes down to this question of like, Why adapt a manga into a film? And I think the answer to that became shooting on digital because obviously manga, illustrations, comics are still images. But if I were to shoot these scenes on film, there\u2019s always going to be those subtle movements of the grain. The shot is always going to be moving, but with digital, as long as nothing is moving within the scene, it really truly just looks like a photograph. So that also allows for the smallest of movements to be very surprising and shocking for the viewer. It\u2019s as if the manga has come to life.<\/p>\n How are you thinking about technology right now? Is the noise around AI impacting your work at all? Is it inspiring it? Is it sort of detracting from it?<\/p>\n I don\u2019t think about it at all.<\/p>\n Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Robyn KannerClose<\/p>\n Robyn Kanner<\/p>\n Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All by Robyn Kanner<\/a><\/p>\n EntertainmentClose<\/p>\n Entertainment<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All Entertainment<\/a><\/p>\n FilmClose<\/p>\n Film<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All Film<\/a><\/p>\n InterviewClose<\/p>\n Interview<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n