Director Ueda Shinichiro has brought his microdrama “Earthlings in Love” to theatrical release after its initial success as a series of vertical video episodes on social media. The project, screening in the Nippon Cinema Now section of the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival, represents an adaptation from a digital format originally comprising 30 short episodes lasting only minutes each.
The narrative centers on a character named Shinpei, a filmmaker confronting a diagnosis of young-onset dementia who embarks on a project to preserve his memories by completing a film he began creating with friends during his teenage years. According to Ueda, the positive reception from online audiences motivated the transition to a full-length feature intended for theatrical distribution.
Ueda discussed the creative challenges and advantages of working with vertical framing, a format that typically serves mobile devices and social media platforms. He noted that the aspect ratio accommodates individual subjects effectively but presents compositional difficulties for ensemble scenes. The director deliberately employed the format’s limitations to obscure certain visual information, revealing details from alternative perspectives later in the narrative. He also drew a thematic connection between the constrained framing and symptoms of dementia that affect vision.
The expansion from digital to theatrical release involved substantial structural changes to pacing and editing. The original social media version ran 76 minutes total, while the feature edition extended to 111 minutes. Ueda explained that social media distribution demands rapid audience engagement to prevent viewers from switching to other content, whereas theatrical viewing allows for extended runtimes and contemplative direction. The adaptation included previously shot material that could not fit the social media version alongside newly filmed scenes, while certain cliffhanger sequences designed to encourage daily viewing were removed for the theatrical cut.
Ueda indicated his directorial approach remained consistent across formats, attributing differences primarily to the vertical frame rather than fundamental changes in filmmaking methodology. He anticipated both theatrical and short-form vertical video markets will continue developing independently in the future.
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