111-Minute Runtime: Vertical Dementia Drama Expands for Tokyo Festival

The feature film "Earthlings in Love" runs for 111 minutes, a substantial increase from the 76 minutes of the 30 vertical short episodes that preceded it. Director Ueda Shinichiro, known for the cult hit "One Cut of the Dead," will screen the project in the Nippon Cinema Now section of the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival. The expansion reflects a shift in audience behavior and creative intent, moving from the quick consumption habits of social media to the sustained attention of a cinema audience.

The narrative centers on a character named Shinpei, a director who diagnoses himself with young-onset dementia. To preserve his memories, he attempts to finish a film he started with friends during his teenage years. Ueda drew the story from his own life, specifically from a visit to his hometown where he met old classmates. He observed that their recollections of shared events diverged, and some details had vanished entirely. This experience inspired a story about the gap between recorded facts and personal memory.

Ueda stated that the work was not initially conceived as a feature length project. However, strong online reactions to the short episodes encouraged the team to expand the material for theaters. He noted in an interview with Variety that his instincts generally lean toward feature filmmaking. The vertical format presented specific creative challenges, particularly for group shots. Ueda used these restrictions to his advantage, leaving information out of the frame to be revealed later from different angles. He also saw a thematic link, as some symptoms of dementia affect a person's vision.

Editing required significant changes between the digital and theatrical versions. In the social media context, Ueda explained that a slow pace causes viewers to swipe to other content. In a theater, an audience can sit for roughly two hours, allowing for longer performances and restored scenes. The feature version includes newly shot material and lines that were cut from the shorts. It also removes cliffhanger endings that previously served to retain viewers for the next day's episode.

Ueda said his directing approach remained largely consistent with his earlier works, such as "Special Actors," with the vertical frame being the primary difference. He noted that actors in short dramas often perform with exaggerated intensity, but his cast had prior feature film experience. They performed at a level suitable for the larger scale of the theater. The main lesson from the microdrama format concerned audience response speed. On social platforms, comments appear almost immediately, allowing for a rapid cycle where an idea can be shot in the afternoon and released that evening.

This speed contrasts with the feature film timeline, which takes at least 12 months to reach theaters. Ueda expects both formats to continue existing in the market. He believes the demand for vertical shorts will grow, but cinemas will remain relevant. In Japan, he argued, theaters are now the only place where people turn off their phones and sit together for two hours. He compared the theatrical experience to a religious ritual, borrowing a phrase from a senior director friend to describe it as a sacred place.

The film's structure relies on the limitations of the vertical frame to mirror the protagonist's condition. By restricting the visual field, Ueda forces the audience to engage with the missing information. This technique aligns with the plot's focus on memory loss and the unreliability of recollection. The expansion to 111 minutes allows for a more detailed exploration of these themes than the short format permitted.