Matsuda: Kumiko

In a typical Matsuda scene, she might stand still for ten seconds without blinking. She doesn't cry loudly; a single tear traces a path down her cheek. She doesn't scream in anger; her voice drops to a whisper. Directors like Shinji Aoyama ( Eureka , 2000) exploited this trait perfectly. In Eureka , a three-hour-plus epic about trauma, Matsuda plays a bus driver’s wife who has witnessed a massacre. Her performance is almost entirely reactive. The camera loves her face because the audience can project an entire novel of grief onto her stoic expression.

What separates Matsuda from her contemporaries (like the theatrical Meiko Kaji or the sweet Yoshie Kashiwabashi) is her use of negative space. In film theory, the "Matsuda Kumiko style" is often cited as an example of ma (間)—the meaningful pause or empty space. matsuda kumiko