Apple had a surprise in store Wednesday for fans of Japanese manga and the always-stimulating, neo-noir cinema of Takashi Miike — a 19-minute short film made by the filmmaker using only an iPhone 15 Pro.
Titled Midnight, the mini-movie is an adaptation of a lesser-known work by legendary Japanese manga artist Osamu Tezuka. Much of the film takes place in neon-lit Tokyo at night, including a thrilling car chase sequence — a deliberate exercise on Apple’s part to showcase their device’s video capture capabilities in low lighting. (Watch the film below)
The story centers on a late-night taxi driver named “Midnight” played by popular Japanese actor Kento Kaku, who roams the streets of Tokyo offering help to those in need. The film follows Midnight as he comes to the aid of a young woman, played by Konatsu Kato, who is struggling to take over her recently deceased father’s truck-driving business while fighting off a nefarious local gang, led by an evil boss played by the acclaimed character actor Yukiyoshi Ozawa.
Apple released the film on its YouTube channel late in the afternoon on Wednesday in Japan.
Miike is one of Japan’s most prolific and adventurous directors, with over 100 feature film credits to his name, including genre cinema landmarks like Audition, Ichi the Killer and 13 Assassins. He is renowned for irreverent and inventive visual style and pacing.
Miike said the following in a statement about his experience working on the promotional project (watch it below):
“Mr. Tezuka is something of a god among manga artists so it was an honor to take on the challenge of expressing his work using only iPhone. As we were shooting, I naturally began to challenge myself to think about how we could make a work unique to iPhone, beyond the usual approach to a film. I truly felt that the iPhone has the power to do things that a conventional movie camera can’t.”
“Action mode accurately captures the facial expressions of subjects in a scene in a dynamic way, while reflecting their emotions and thoughts. For example, in the scene where Kaede hears news of her father passing away, furiously rushing out to show her sadness. Thanks to iPhone 15 Pro and Action mode, I was able capture such a scene. It is beyond what a conventional stabilizer can do without compromising the high-quality of the film. It is truly a magical feature.”
“While Cinematic mode gives the film a more cinematic look, I was even more impressed by the ability to adjust the focus after shooting. You can focus on whatever you want, whenever you want. I hope that game-changing features like this that are impossible with regular photography equipment will be added more and more, and that it will break the conventional thinking of filmmakers.”
