Kirin Kiki, everyone’s favourite Japanese screen grandmother, on flowering late
The self-effacing actress, now 73, says she’s still working because, unlike some colleagues, she doesn’t mind playing characters her age or older, such as in the films of Hirokazu Koreeda
Kirin Kiki is a legend in Japan and, in person, a walking amalgam of goofball wit and gratuitous modesty. When she sat down for her only interview before receiving a lifetime achievement award at the 10th Asian Film Awards ceremony in Macau this month, the actress didn’t even venture the usual platitudes when asked about the recognition.
“I’m 73 years old now. It’d be better if they gave the awards to someone younger,” said Kiki, winner of two best actress awards in the Japanese Academy Prizes – for her maternal roles in 2007’s Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad and 2012’s Chronicle of My Mother – recognition she sounds just as eager to play down.
“I don’t remember any of them now,” she says with a chuckle. “Once we finished shooting, I just threw away the scripts and forgot all about it.”
An actress of extraordinary sensitivity and warmth, Kiki portrays ostensibly benign characters who are sometimes torn by regrets and disappointment. Now everyone’s favourite screen mother in Japanese cinema, the actress has her own theory about her success.
“I believe I’m regarded more as a grandmother than a mother nowadays. I’m different from other actresses in that I’m a seventy-something playing myself in the movies. It’s not every actress who would like to act their age or play characters older than themselves.”