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“One Important Person is Enough”

Today’s story teller is documentary director Tetsuaki Matsue, 33 years old.

He says, “Even if 99 people criticize my work, it is OK if one person approves it. There must be at least one person who would approve a director out there.”

For Matsue, this ‘person’ is movie director Nobuhiro Yamashita.

They are close in age, and they are good friends that they never lie to each other so that they have complete faith in each other.

Because they respect each other’s works, they get disappointed or cry by watching the works from time to time.

Yamashita always invites Matsue for his preview screening. Each time Matsue goes to see it, he gets a jittery feeling, thinking: “What would I do if it is bad?”

Once, he gave Yamashita a critical comment when he saw his work. But another time, he was so moved that it brought tears in his eyes and he exchanged a strong handshake with excitement with Yamashita after he saw the other one.

Meanwhile, he gets a jittery feeling when Yamashita watches his movies first time.

When he saw his movie which was released earlier this year, Yamashita said to him, “I am jealous of you.”Those words were the best words he ever received.

Matsue says, “I have been jealous of Yamashita with his works so many times before, too. It is hard to say to someone that I am jealous. I am grateful to him.”

The NIKKEI 01/26/2010 by Tetsuaki Matsue (documentary director)

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