Shinya Tsukamoto’s ‘Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?’ Sets Japan Bow

Shinya’s Tsukamoto’s “Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?” is headed to Japanese cinemas.

The film rounds out the Japanese director’s informal trilogy of 20th-century war films, coming after “Fires on the Plain” – which landed in the main competition at the 71st Venice International Film Festival – and “Shadow of Fire.” The project gestated for seven years before reaching the screen.

Rodney Hicks takes the title role. The actor is known for his involvement with Broadway’s “Rent” from its opening to its closing night run, and for his turn as Uncle Charlie in the Netflix series “Forever.” Triple award-winner Geoffrey Rush – who has taken home Oscar, Emmy and Tony honors over his career – plays VA physician Dr. Daniels, a role that follows celebrated credits including “Shine,” “The King’s Speech” and the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series. Tatyana Ali, familiar to audiences from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and the Emmy-winning “Abbott Elementary,” plays Nelson’s wife Linda. The film also marks the screen debut of Mark Merphy, who portrays Nelson as a young man in flashback. Filming took place across the U.S., Thailand, Vietnam and Japan.

The film is rooted in the real-life account of Allen Nelson, an African American veteran of the Vietnam War who, after returning from combat, went on to give more than 1,200 lectures throughout Japan bearing witness to his wartime experiences. Nelson, who is buried in Japan, spoke candidly about his inner torment as someone who had taken lives during the conflict — the psychological terrain that Tsukamoto has described as “the wounds of those who perpetrated war.”

The film traces Nelson’s journey from a poverty-stricken childhood in New York through his decision to enlist in the Marines at 18, seeing in military service a path out of discrimination and hardship. After a stint at Camp Hansen in Okinawa, he was dispatched to the Vietnam front lines in 1966. He came home five years later plagued by sleeplessness, hair-trigger fear responses and fractured family ties that ultimately left him living on the streets. Dr. Daniels eventually intervenes in an effort to pull him back from the edge.

Tsukamoto has said he first came across the original nonfiction book while immersed in research for “Fires on the Plain,” and that it never left him. He described the filmmaking process as a seven-year tug of war between wanting to tell the story and being overwhelmed by its darkness. “In today’s world, where conflicts are raging in various places, I’ve come to feel this reality more acutely than ever,” Tsukamoto said.

The film is produced and distributed in Japan by Kinoshita Group and Kino Films, the company behind the local release of “Conclave” and the upcoming Japanese rollout of the Michael Jackson biopic “Michael” in June.

Tsukamoto’s body of work stretches back decades, taking in the internationally celebrated body-horror film “Tetsuo: The Iron Man” (1989) and the samurai drama “Killing” (2018), which also competed in Venice’s main section. The Japan release announcement was timed to coincide with National Vietnam War Veterans Day on March 29.