Malaysian director Edmund Yeo on his film adaptation of Japanese novella 'Moonlight Shadow'

Malaysian director Edmund Yeo's film adaptation is given the thumbs-up by author Banana Yoshimoto (right). Photo: Edmund Yeo/Instagram

Malaysian director Edmund Yeo’s feature film Moonlight Shadow is set to hit cinemas in Japan this Friday (Sept 10). The film is based on the popular novella of the same name by Japanese author Banana Yoshimoto.

In Moonlight Shadow, Yeo directed a solely Japanese cast led by up-and-coming star Nana Komatsu, 25, whose recent films includes Tapestry (2020). She also made her international debut in Silence alongside Andrew Garfield and Liam Neeson in 2016.

Yeo, who had studied in Japan, mentioned in an interview with South China Morning Post that it would have been impossible to make this film without Komatsu, emphasising that “instead of acting, she truly became Satsuki”, the character she played.

The novella, partly inspired by the famous 1983 song of the same name by Mike Oldfield, tells the story of Satsuki, who is coping from the passing of her boyfriend in a tragic car accident. She develops a friendship with her boyfriend’s brother whose girlfriend also died in the same accident.

Filming began amidst the Covid-19 movement restrictions in 2020 while Yeo was attending the Tokyo International Film Festival’s world premiere of his previous film, Malu. “We had to do temperature checks three times a day, except for the actors, everyone had to wear their masks the entire time,” he said.

Yeo said the film will have a fresh yet familiar tone to both readers and non-readers of the novella as he had expanded certain scenes and characters. This was to adapt his version to the contemporary world but promises the main storyline would remained the same.

Yoshimoto herself recently took to her Instagram to share her thoughts on the film. She called it a “masterpiece of elegance” and commended the director for portraying the beautiful parts of Japan’s landscape.