After making The Truth in France and Broker in South Korea, Hirokazu Kore-eda returns to a Japanese-language project for the first time since his justly lauded Shoplifters five years ago, working with another writer’s script for the first time since his head-turning 1995 debut, Maborosi. Many of the peerless humanist’s frequent themes figure in Monster (Kaibutsu) — loss, isolation, the elusive nature of happiness and the struggles of imperfect families — viewed through a somewhat imposing multi-perspective Rashomon-esque prism. The director’s customary delicacy, compassion and sensitivity ripple through the drama, though its affecting moments of illumination are more intermittent than cumulative.
With its fragmented exploration of childhood bullying, stigma, peer pressure and homophobia, as well as the age of its young protagonists, Monster vaguely recalls Belgian director Lukas Dhont’s Close from last year, albeit with more restraint and less sentiment, for better or worse. It’s a frustrating film in many ways,...
With its fragmented exploration of childhood bullying, stigma, peer pressure and homophobia, as well as the age of its young protagonists, Monster vaguely recalls Belgian director Lukas Dhont’s Close from last year, albeit with more restraint and less sentiment, for better or worse. It’s a frustrating film in many ways,...
- 5/17/2023
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Hirokazu Kore-Eda is back in Cannes Competition after winning the Palme d’Or for Shoplifters in 2018 and last year presenting Korean-language Broker, which won best actor for Song Kang-ho. His new title, Monster, reteams him with Shoplifters actress Sakura Ando and is the last film to be scored by Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, who died in March at 71 following a battle with cancer.
Scripted by Yuji Sakamoto (We Made a Beautiful Bouquet), Monster revolves around a single mother (Ando) who suspects there is something wrong at her son’s school when he starts behaving strangely. She storms into the school and accuses a teacher of bullying her son, only to have the teacher claim the boy is bullying another pupil, an eccentric child who appears to be having problems at home.
The cast also includes Eita Nagayama (Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai) as the teacher and veteran actress Yuko Tanaka...
Scripted by Yuji Sakamoto (We Made a Beautiful Bouquet), Monster revolves around a single mother (Ando) who suspects there is something wrong at her son’s school when he starts behaving strangely. She storms into the school and accuses a teacher of bullying her son, only to have the teacher claim the boy is bullying another pupil, an eccentric child who appears to be having problems at home.
The cast also includes Eita Nagayama (Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai) as the teacher and veteran actress Yuko Tanaka...
- 5/17/2023
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
Toho in Japan has revealed a full-length official trailer for Monster, the latest film from prolific Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda. He already won Palme d'Or a few years ago for Shoplifters, and premiered his Korean film Broker in Cannes last year, and is back at the festival again. This trailer dropped moments after the film was announced as a major premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, playing again in the competition. The story spun by Hirokazu Kore-eda this time is colored by the world-class music of Ryuichi Sakamoto (who sadly passed away recently). The film's cast features the talented Sakura Ando, Eita Nagayama, and Yuko Tanaka, who overwhelm the audience with their transformative performances, and rising stars Souya Kurokawa and Yota Hiiragi, who play the two boys with freshness and emotion, as well as Mitsuki Takahata, Akihiro Tsunoda, Shidou Nakamura. The Rashomon-esque story follows a boy at school, examining who...
- 4/13/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Winner of the Fipresci Prize in last year's Biff, Nao Kubota's “Thousand and One Nights” takes on a subject that has been dealt with in the Japanese cinema of the past, as in Shohei Imamura's “ A Man Vanishes” for example, but not so much in recent productions, regarding the sudden disappearances of men throughout Japan.
“Thousand and One Nights” is screening at Helsinki Cine Aasia
Tomiko Wakamatsu, a woman in her 60s, is working in the fish industry in the island of Sado, located in the Sea of Japan not far from Niigata. Her life, however, has been on hold for more than three decades now, since her husband Satoshi disappeared. Not being able to move forward, Tomiko is still searching and waiting, although a local man, Haruo, is quite keen on marrying her, something that both his mother, and a number of other people from the island insist on,...
“Thousand and One Nights” is screening at Helsinki Cine Aasia
Tomiko Wakamatsu, a woman in her 60s, is working in the fish industry in the island of Sado, located in the Sea of Japan not far from Niigata. Her life, however, has been on hold for more than three decades now, since her husband Satoshi disappeared. Not being able to move forward, Tomiko is still searching and waiting, although a local man, Haruo, is quite keen on marrying her, something that both his mother, and a number of other people from the island insist on,...
- 3/22/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
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