はやまりました

映画館で予告編がやっていたので、AmazonでSea of Treesという洋書を買って読み始めました。

マシュー・マコノヒー、渡辺謙共演『The Sea of Trees（原題）』が日本公開決定
2015年05月08日

アカデミー賞俳優のマシュー・マコノヒーと、映画のみならず舞台においても国際的に活躍を続ける渡辺謙が初共演を果たした、ガス・ヴァン・サント監督の最新作『The Sea of Trees（原題）』が、2016年に日本公開することが決定した。また、本作は間もなく開催される本年度カンヌ国際映画祭のコンペティション部門での正式上映が決定している（公式上映日は現地時間5月16日）。

富士の樹海を舞台にした注目の映画『The Sea of Trees』。人生に失望し、自分の命を絶つ為に自殺の名所として有名な富士の樹海にやってきたアメリカ人男性アーサー（マシュー・マコノヒー）は、森林の奥地までたどり着いたとき、同じ目的でその場所を訪れていた日本人男性タクミ（渡辺謙）に出会う。タクミは一時自殺を決意したが、その気持ちを変え妻子の元へ戻ろうとしており、樹海から抜け出すために助けを求めてきた。怪我を負っているタクミを放っておくことも出来ず、自殺を遮られたことでアーサー自身もここに至るまでの人生を見つめ直すようになる...というストーリー。


THE SEA OF TREES
SYNOPSIS
It’s love and loss that lead Arthur Brennan, across the world to Japan’s Aokigahara, a mysterious dense forest known as The Sea of Trees lapping the foothills of Japan’s Mount Fuji – a place where people go to contemplate life and death. Arthur enters the depths of the forest and loses himself beyond the guiding ribbons threaded through the trees by many before him. Having found the perfect place to die, Arthur encounters Takumi Nakamura, a Japanese man who also appears to have lost his way. Unable to leave Takumi behind, Arthur invests all of his remaining energy into saving Takumi and returning him to safety. The two men embark on a journey of reflection and survival, which affirms Arthur’s will to live and reconnects him to his love with his wife.

帰宅してからこの映画のストーリーを読んだのですが、自分が買った以下の本とは全く違う内容のものでした（涙）まあ、そんなに高くなかったのでよしとします。それに日本が舞台だと断然に読みやすいです。

Sea of Trees
Swirling mystery permeates Sea of Trees as Bill, an American college student, and his Japanese girlfriend Junko traverse the Aokigahara Forest in Japan--infamous as one of the world's top suicide destinations--in search of evidence of Junko's sister Izumi who disappeared there a year previous. As the two follow clues and journey deeper into the woods amid the eerily quiet and hauntingly beautiful landscape--bypassing tokens and remains of the departed, suicide notes tacked to trees and shrines put up by forlorn loved ones--they'll depend on one another in ways they never had to before, testing the very fabric of their relationship. And, as daylight quickly escapes them and they find themselves lost in the dark veil of night, Bill discovers a truth Junko has hidden deep within her-a truth that will change them both forever.

どうやら樹海は海外でも有名のようで、ドキュメンタリーで取り上げたりしているようです。

(Wikipedia)
Aokigahara
Aokigahara (青木ヶ原?), also known as the Suicide Forest or Sea of Trees (樹海 Jukai?), is a 35-square-kilometre (14 sq mi) forest that lies at the northwest base of Mount Fuji in Japan. The forest contains a number of rocky, icy caverns, a few of which are popular tourist destinations.[1] Aokigahara forest is dense, shutting out all but the natural sounds of the forest itself.[2]
The forest has an historic association with demons in Japanese mythology and is a popular place for suicides (57 in 2010),[3] despite the sign posted in Japanese at the head of the main trail urging suicidal visitors to think of their families and contact a suicide prevention association.

ニューヨークタイムズやガーディアンなんかも記事にしています。

Wandering in Japan’s
‘Suicide Forest’
By James Estrin date published Oct. 25, 2012

After all, there is reason the Aokigahara Forest, at the base of Mount Fuji, is called the “suicide forest.”

Japan has more than 30,000 suicides a year — one of the highest rates among industrialized nations. On average, someone in Japan dies by his own hand every 15 minutes. Usually a man. The Aokigahara Forest is the most common place to commit suicide in Japan, and it is widely thought to be the second most likely site in the world, after the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

The reasons are complex.

In 1960, Seicho Matsumoto wrote a popular novel called “Tower of Wave,” in which a couple commits suicide in Aokigahara Forest. These woods are described as the “perfect place to die” by the author Wataru Tsurumi in the book, “The Complete Manual of Suicide.” His best seller has been found next to many bodies in the woods, which is also known as the Yukai Forest, or Sea of Trees.

In addition, Mount Fuji is revered as a sacred site in Japan. Folk tales tell of ghosts and demons haunting the forest.

There is also a long, romantic history of honorable suicide in Japan, from the Samurai avoiding disgrace to the kamikaze pilots of World War II. And suicide is less stigmatized in Japan than in many Western societies.

今回の映画とはべつに青木ヶ原を舞台にしたスリラーも控えているようで、小澤征悦も出演するとか。。。

AI Film Enters Lava Bear’s ‘Forest'; Natalie Dormer, Taylor Kinney Star – Cannes
By Nancy Tartaglione
May 15, 2015 10:48am

EXCLUSIVE: AI Film has come aboard supernatural thriller The Forest as co-financier and co-producer. Game Of Thrones‘ Natalie Dormer and Chicago Fire‘s Taylor Kinney star in the film that began principal photography today in Tokyo. The Lava Bear Films project has Focus Features releasing domestically on January 8. Jason Zada is making his feature debut based on an original idea from David S. Goyer.

Sarah Cornwell and Nick Antosca wrote the script for The Forest, which is produced by Lava Bear and Goyer, under his Phantom Four banner. Shooting in Tokyo and the environs surrounding the Aokigahara forest at the base of Mount Fuji, the story follows Sara, a young American who goes in search of her mysteriously disappeared twin sister. Despite warnings to “stay on the path,” Sara enters the forest determined to discover the truth about her sister’s fate, only to be confronted by the angry and tormented souls of the dead who prey on anyone who wanders that way.
“We are proud to see this film going into production and fortunate to have AI Film join us,” said Lava Bear head David Linde. “The team both in front of and behind the camera promises to deliver a well-crafted thriller designed to engage audiences all over the world.”

樹海も舞台の一つとなっているスリラーThe Threeという本も昨年出たようで、スティーブンキングも以下のように褒めているようです。

THE THREE is really wonderful. A cross between Michael Crichton and Shirley Jackson, hard to put down and vastly entertaining. -- Stephen King



Podcast: The Three Author Sarah Lotz Talks About Japan’s Infamous Suicide Forest, Aokigahara
by Jean on Aug 29th, 2014

Sarah Lotz chatted to Jenny Crwys-Williams on her Talk Radio 702 Book Show about her novel, The Three.
Crwys-Williams asked Lotz about Aokigahara, the infamous Japanese ‘suicide forest’ at the foot of Mount Fuji, where one of the aeroplanes crashes in The Three.
“I heard about it a few years ago,” Lotz says, “and I couldn’t believe there wasn’t more fiction written around it, because it is one of the scariest places in the world, and also the most upsetting places in the world. More than a hundred people flock there every year to commit suicide.”
Lotz visited Aokigahara with her mother, and found it surprisingly “incredibly beautiful” and atmospheric:

はやまったついでに、The Threeもポチしておきました（苦笑）