DIRECTOR SPOTLIGHTAsuka Lin
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How did the Urashima Taro folktale influence Into the Emerald Sea, and what made you want to reinterpret it in such a personal way?
Folktales have always inspired me, they are the mother of all stories. They are living beings that cross borders, generations and cultures to evolve based on how each storyteller tells it. I chose Urashima Taro since it’s an easily recognizable folktale that many Japanese people know, as it has many symbols and characters that can be easily inserted into a new story about diaspora. At its core, it’s about a fisherman who is led by a turtle to leave the land he knows, towards an underwater kingdom where time moves differently. I knew I wanted to tell a story about a character who mysteriously emerges from the ocean, and arrives at their grandmother’s doorstep. In a way, I like to think of this film as an inverted version of the original folktale.
Folktales have always inspired me, they are the mother of all stories. They are living beings that cross borders, generations and cultures to evolve based on how each storyteller tells it. I chose Urashima Taro since it’s an easily recognizable folktale that many Japanese people know, as it has many symbols and characters that can be easily inserted into a new story about diaspora. At its core, it’s about a fisherman who is led by a turtle to leave the land he knows, towards an underwater kingdom where time moves differently. I knew I wanted to tell a story about a character who mysteriously emerges from the ocean, and arrives at their grandmother’s doorstep. In a way, I like to think of this film as an inverted version of the original folktale.
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The relationship between Suzu and their grandmother is central to the film. How did you explore family themes and reconnection through magical realism?
There are many things we wish to say to our loved ones after their passing. When I was a kid, my family and I would visit the shrines of our ancestors, to tell them how we were doing. It’s an interesting ritual that was always a one-way conversation, but a sweet act of remembrance. Magical realism gives the freedom to imagine an alternate reality, where Suzu can talk to their grandmother again, as they both hold onto and let go of what they once knew as home and family. |
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How do themes of diaspora and memory appear in Into the Emerald Sea, and how personal is the story to you?
Suzu’s mysterious backstory is a branch that grew from my own life — my family moved to America when I was at a young age, but I still spent my summers in Japan with my grandparents. As I grew older, that preserved memory of the town became a deep part of me. I’m sure this feeling is universal.
The production involved my family in a heavy but rewarding way. The turtle was voiced by my grandmother, my mother secured locations and coordinated logistics, my father made the turtle robot over the course of two+ years, drove us around to each location and also has a cameo where he bikes in the same scene as my aunt. The house locations were a culmination of my grandmother’s, neighbor’s, and my childhood home.
There were intimate moments on set, like when Arisa (Suzu) and I flipped through my grandfather’s photo album together. The Winnie the Pooh blanket that Arisa wears in the film is a blanket that used to wrap me as a baby. I was expecting to feel more shocked to see all my friends in America squeezed in my grandmother’s narrow hallway in Southern Japan, but all I felt at that time was just profound gratitude and joy to be creating with the people I love.
Suzu’s mysterious backstory is a branch that grew from my own life — my family moved to America when I was at a young age, but I still spent my summers in Japan with my grandparents. As I grew older, that preserved memory of the town became a deep part of me. I’m sure this feeling is universal.
The production involved my family in a heavy but rewarding way. The turtle was voiced by my grandmother, my mother secured locations and coordinated logistics, my father made the turtle robot over the course of two+ years, drove us around to each location and also has a cameo where he bikes in the same scene as my aunt. The house locations were a culmination of my grandmother’s, neighbor’s, and my childhood home.
There were intimate moments on set, like when Arisa (Suzu) and I flipped through my grandfather’s photo album together. The Winnie the Pooh blanket that Arisa wears in the film is a blanket that used to wrap me as a baby. I was expecting to feel more shocked to see all my friends in America squeezed in my grandmother’s narrow hallway in Southern Japan, but all I felt at that time was just profound gratitude and joy to be creating with the people I love.
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The ocean is a key element in the film. How does it reflect Suzu’s emotional journey and the film's themes?
One of the first images that inspired me to write this film was the image of a character in full clothing walking out of the ocean. It’s no coincidence that when a character becomes submerged by water in a film or show, it often signifies a major turning point of their internal growth. The grandmother is reborn into a sea turtle, and Suzu is reborn in a more abstract way. It is unclear where they should “return” to. For both characters, the ocean is their mother. It is a place of transformation and our place of origin. It is also a landscape of migrants and displaced people, where borders cannot be drawn, and nations collapse to nature. The ocean is terrifying to me, but it’s impossible not to make a film about it for those reasons - we are innately informed by it. |
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The film uses a sea turtle to symbolize Suzu’s grandmother. What inspired this choice, and what does it represent?
Turtles often appear in folktales as wise beings that lead the main character to a magical place, or an awakening. In Urashima Taro, the turtle is the one who leads Taro towards the underwater kingdom, as a gesture of gratitude after Taro saves her from some bullying kids.
Turtles are both land and water animals, returning to land to lay their eggs. Their offspring, when hatched, instinctually run towards the waves. Their way of life are rituals of returning and leaving from land and water. All of these are factors as to why I found the turtle to be such a great character for the grandmother to be.
How did you balance the magical and realistic elements of the story, both in writing and visually?
It’s a balance that I’m still trying to figure out — I usually start with realism, and from there, find those shimmers of life that stick with us. Like when you sit in your car and watch the sunset spill over an open field, or when you hold a firefly in your hands and enjoy its glow. Those moments stick with me and move me deeply.
Turtles often appear in folktales as wise beings that lead the main character to a magical place, or an awakening. In Urashima Taro, the turtle is the one who leads Taro towards the underwater kingdom, as a gesture of gratitude after Taro saves her from some bullying kids.
Turtles are both land and water animals, returning to land to lay their eggs. Their offspring, when hatched, instinctually run towards the waves. Their way of life are rituals of returning and leaving from land and water. All of these are factors as to why I found the turtle to be such a great character for the grandmother to be.
How did you balance the magical and realistic elements of the story, both in writing and visually?
It’s a balance that I’m still trying to figure out — I usually start with realism, and from there, find those shimmers of life that stick with us. Like when you sit in your car and watch the sunset spill over an open field, or when you hold a firefly in your hands and enjoy its glow. Those moments stick with me and move me deeply.
What message do you hope audiences take away from Into the Emerald Sea, especially those who may not be familiar with the original folktale?
Folktales often leave us with some type of lesson to take away from it, but I’m not sure if I have one for the film. I like to keep it open ended for people to gain their own understanding of it. Even the original folktale has an unclear message of what we are supposed to take away from it. I guess all I can say is that if something calls to you, chase it! That’s sort of why I made this whole film. I’m just grateful it’s finished and that people can enjoy it.
Folktales often leave us with some type of lesson to take away from it, but I’m not sure if I have one for the film. I like to keep it open ended for people to gain their own understanding of it. Even the original folktale has an unclear message of what we are supposed to take away from it. I guess all I can say is that if something calls to you, chase it! That’s sort of why I made this whole film. I’m just grateful it’s finished and that people can enjoy it.
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Asuka Lin is a Japanese-Taiwanese filmmaker currently in Los Angeles, and co-founder of Total Blur Films. Their work wanders from anarchic cyberpunk to meditative folktales, united by themes of yearning and conflicting realities.
You can find more about their work at : https://asuka.cloud/ |
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