'Silence' proves Scorsese's faith in passion project

Yumster100: on this we agree, and on top of Scorcesse's genius he's basing it on the genius of Endo.

I'm purely speculating, but I know that the government charges a lot of money for foreign films produced in Japan. They may have wanted similar geography, but received preferable rates in Taiwan.

Like others I'm looking forward to Silence. I watched Last Temptation... in Tokyo shortly after it was released (1989?) . It was the first time I'd seen pixelated censorship; it marred a great film

@gokai_wo_maneku I think it's true, as far as I know The Last Samurai was shot in New Zealand for the same reasons.

Gokai

I work in logistics & movie making in Japan is INSANELY expensive & getting permission to shoot at locations, getting police permission, city halls, its a nightmare. That's why filming in Japan tends to be very minimal even if the movie is based location wise in Japan, Last Samurai is a perfect example.

Its much easier & cheaper to fly/boat/build everything somewhere else than simply doing it here

Very interesting comments about the cost of overseas companies making movies here in Japan. Abe should do something about that. At least "Lost in Translation" was made here (or else they made a pretty impressive mock-up of Tokyo (Shinjuku) somewhere).

Gokai: Lost in Translation required no special sets built and didn't necessarily block off and/or interfere with regular life (I'm sure some scenes did). Avoiding building permits and filming the city as is would avoid have the struggle. In other movies mentioned the sets required need large-scale production, and if period pieces would have to do far more beyond. The bureaucracy for filming here is a nightmare.

Scorcesse is a genius and I'm sure the film is great!

I'm curious, why was the movie shot in Taiwan?

Can't wait to see it. Love Endo and have also studied a lot about the persecution of Christians by the Japanese leadership of the period.

@Strangerland, Thanks! I didn't know about charges for foreign film makers in Japan. Interesting speculation.

I saw the movie a few days ago in Nihonbashi. How was it? It's wonderful to have a film with ideas people can discuss long afterwards and for it not to be part of a "franchise" that depends on CG, "stars" and aliens. That explains the funding problem.

@smith

Couldn't agree more. But it's hard to beat Goodfellas since that is a masterpiece!