Berlin features tragedy, fun
Depp dazzles while Pixar offers paradox
BERLIN — Johnny Depp dazzled the Berlin Film Festival with old-fashioned star wattage, hitting the red carpet for the world premiere of “Minamata,” a dramatization of one of the world’s most famous ecological scandals, the corporate poisoning of a Japanese coastal village’s water.
Minamata has become synonymous with corporate indifference as factory waste produced irreversible spinal and nervous system effects in adults and children.
Depp, who also produced, plays veteran photographer W. Eugene Smith who brought Minamata to the world’s attention with nowclassic photos in Life magazine.
At Friday’s afternoon press conference, a Japanese Minamata-based reporter noted that, although the film covers events in the early 1970s, “The Minamata disease is not over yet.” He asked Depp, in tinted glasses, a cowboy hat and plaid shirt whose rolled up sleeves displayed his tat-covered arms, “What did you think about Minamata disease in your own words?”
“Whe n I first read the story — the nightmare that happened down there because of the mercury and toxic poisoned water — it was almost impossible to believe that something could not only arrive in such a horrific way but it spared no one. There was absolutely nothing they could do about it and so it was, What do people have to do to live?
“What happened in Minamata and the fact it happened at all is quite shocking, that it still continues is more shocking.” Depp described himself simply as, “Someone who was interested and believed it was a story that needed to be told.” Interjected director and cowriter Andrew Levitas, “Johnny’s too humble to tell you the truth, he’ll never talk about himself. Johnny was the driver of this from Day One. He’ll never stand up and take credit for how much he cares about these things but this came from him. All the passion and what we were able to do came out of Johnny’s heart and his passion. And it mattered.”
Also premiering Friday at the Berlinale, Disney-Pixar’s latest animated fantasy “Onward” (opens nationwide March 6).
It’s an imaginative contemporary adventure story of two brothers on a quest to magically resurrect their long-dead dad.
The message would seem to be: Be adventurous.
Director Dan Scanlon was asked, since this is Pixar, isn’t a critique of consumerist culture a bit odd?
“Yeah mea culpa,” he answered with a smile. “We didn’t want to make a film that is anti-tech. Obviously we’re making art with technology which has done so many great things.
“It’s more a movie about finding that balance. Sometimes there’s an ease and comfort over time. It’s a reminder to take challenges and try some hard things. We’re not saying tech is either good or bad, it’s all of these things.”