"After 'Hana-Bi,' I couldn't help feeling that my films were being stereotyped: 'gangster, violence, life and death.' It became difficult for me to identify with them. So I decided to try and make a film no one would expect from me. To tell the truth, the story of this film belongs to a genre which is outside my specialty. But I decided to make this film because it would be a challenge for me to cope with this ordinary story and try to make it my very own through my direction, and I tried a lot of experiments with imagery. I think it ended up being a very strange film with my upsetting people's expectations in a positive way."

- Takeshi Kitano