In Singapore for SGIFF, Kiko Mizuhara talks acting, music and Vintage Violence

The chaotic plotting prompted Mizuhara to make a mindmap of Izumi’s relationships and motivations, a first in her 16-year screen career.

“I didn’t want to forget certain things that were in (the character). I was trying to make sure that (she) had a proper connection with Carter, with her boyfriend – like what made her fall in love with this guy because he’s kind of a piece of sh*t. Even though the movie doesn’t show her full background, it was important for me to connect all those dots to play her,” said Mizuhara.

For the record, the million-dollar asking price for the old Levi’s in the film is a fair estimate. The rare denim “otaku” (Japanese for nerd) market really is that intense, she added.

Retro tech – old DVDs, CDs, videotapes and records – was always more her speed, but since her house in Los Angeles burned down in the wildfires of 2025, Mizuhara has moved on to collecting more ephemeral and space-saving incense. She now lives in Tokyo, where most of Vintage Violence’s blood-splashing antics are set.

One of the movie’s wittier points is the comic irony of the Japanese love for vintage Americana chafing with present-day antipathy for bumbling Americans. “It’s a love-hate thing,” said Mizuhara. “Japanese people have very specific rules. We cannot do and say certain things but when people from other cultures come, they will mess up.”

This can be confusing for the Japanese people. “But I think messing up a bit is good sometimes. I can see both sides, so it’s funny for me. It’s good to be in the middle,” she added.

Beyond modelling

With two more movies, a pop album and a coffee shop branded after her wellness label, Kiiks, imminent, Mizuhara has made leaps since her teen modelling start. The serial side-quester also does creative direction for legendary Japanese musician Harumi Hosono of Yellow Magic Orchestra.

Said Mizuhara: “I have to be honest, the commercial (modelling) stuff is kind of exhausting because it feels like work. But I realised recently that I love playing a character even when I’m modelling. I don’t really like posing but when I pose in character, it’s easy.

“I want to live in that fantasy.”

Though she stopped short of naming a favourite medium, acting has become more interesting to her with age. “I’m addicted to the feeling of switching into a character. Your whole body feels it,” she said.

Her future in music, new ground for Mizuhara, is less certain. She made her forthcoming album with ex-boyfriend, American composer John Caroll Kirby, while they were still dating. It was, as is her style, “very organic”, she said. He would bring a keyboard everywhere they went, plink out tunes and ask her to sing.

“It’s sad that we’re not together anymore, but it’s kind of beautiful that we were able to create something. It’s almost like a time capsule. The music is all about our relationship, and the feelings and memories we went through. It’s like a souvenir from the universe,” she said.

The idea might strike some as self administration of salt to a wound. But Mizuhara has an artist’s stance: “I think it’s more painful to not show what we created.”