Several films from Japan have made this year’s official selection, while upcoming features in the market include the latest from Sho Miyake, Yoji Yamada and Joe Odagiri.
Festival
Brand New Landscape
Dir. Yuiga Danzuka
Playing in Directors’ Fortnight, the debut feature of Danzuka is set in Tokyo’s Shibuya district and centres on the relationship between a father and son following the death of the mother. The film stars Kodai Kurosaki (She Taught Me Serendipity) in his first leading role alongside veteran actor Kenichi Endo of Cannes 2023 title Kubi. Danzuka attended the Film School of Tokyo and his graduation short After The Night On The Bridge was lauded at Japanese festivals. Born in 1998, he is the youngest Japanese director ever selected for Directors’ Fortnight.
Contact: Luxbox
Exit 8
Dir. Genki Kawamura
Kawamura, best known as the producer of anime hits such as Your Name, directs this horror film set to play in Midnight Screenings and based on a 2023 videogame that has been downloaded more than 1.5 million times. It follows a man trapped in an endless, sterile subway passage who sets out to find the eponymous exit. The cast is led by Kazunari Ninomiya, whose credits include Letters From Iwo Jima. Kawamura’s debut feature, 2022’s A Hundred Flowers, earned him best director at San Sebastian. His latest is produced by Story Inc (Suzume) and Aoi Pro.
Contact: Flavien Eripret, Goodfellas
Kokuho
Dir. Lee Sang-il
Selected for Directors’ Fortnight, Korean Japanese director Lee adapts Shuichi Yoshida’s novel about a gifted kabuki performer descended from a family of gangsters, set against postwar Japan’s economic boom. Ryo Yoshizawa stars with Oscar nominee Ken Watanabe, who headlined Lee’s 2013 remake of Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven. Lee previously directed an adaptation of Yoshida’s novel Villain, which won five awards from the Japan Academy following its release in 2010. Toho is set to release Kokuho locally on June 6.
Contact: Pyramide Int’l (worldwide except Asia); Akane Ikeda, Aniplex (Asia)
Love On Trial
Dir. Koji Fukada
Japanese filmmaker Fukada, who won the Un Certain Regard jury prize in 2016 with Harmonium, now plays in Cannes Premiere with this social drama about a J-pop idol. Starring Kyoko Saito, formerly of pop group Hinatazaka46, the story centres on a singer who is taken to court after violating a ‘no love’ clause in her contract that forbids her from dating. The film is produced by Toho and Knockonwood, with co-production from France’s Survivance. Fukada’s credits include Love Life, which played in Competition at Venice in 2022.
Contact: mk2 Films
A Pale View Of Hills
Dir. Kei Ishikawa
Ishikawa makes his Cannes debut in Un Certain Regard, having previously played at Venice in 2022 with A Man, which went on to win eight prizes including best film at the Japan Academy Awards. His latest is based on the 1982 debut novel by Kazuo Ishiguro and stars frequent Hirokazu Kore-eda collaborator Suzu Hirose (The Third Murder) as a widow in 1980s England looking back on her youth in post-war Nagasaki. It is produced by Kore-eda’s Bunbuku, alongside the UK’s Number 9 Films and Poland’s Lava Films (The Girl With The Needle), and features music from Poland’s Pawel Mykietyn (EO).
Contact: Keiko Yoshida, Gaga
Renoir
Dir. Chie Hayakawa
Hayakawa graduates to Competition with her second feature after Plan 75, which played Un Certain Regard in 2022 and was Japan’s Oscar entry. Set in 1980s Japan, the story centres on a girl navigating adolescence. The cast is led by Yui Suzuki and also includes Lily Franky of 2018 Palme d’Or winner Shoplifters and Yumi Kawai from Desert Of Namibia, which played in last year’s Directors’ Fortnight. Loaded Films (Plan 75) produced with partners Arte France Cinéma, Nathan Studios, Daluyong Studios and KawanKawan Media.
Contact: Flavien Eripret, Goodfellas (worldwide except Asia); Rie Hatano, Happinet Phantom Studios (Asia)
Market
Blue Boy Trial
Dir. Kasho Iizuka
Based on a true story, this film is set in 1960s Japan, where a loophole in anti-prostitution laws meant that trans women could legally perform sex work. The story centres on the trial of a doctor performing sex reassignment surgeries. Director Iizuka’s 2011 debut feature Our Future was based on his own experiences as a trans man. The cast is led by trans actress Miyu Nakagawa in her feature debut. A local release is planned for autumn.
Contact: Ruka Okuyama, Nikkatsu
Dear Stranger
Dir. Tetsuya Mariko
The first English-language live-action feature from Toei stars Hidetoshi Nishijima (Drive My Car) and Gwei Lun-Mei (Black Coal, Thin Ice) as a couple living in New York whose peaceful life is shattered when their son is kidnapped. Mariko won best emerging director at Locarno in 2016 for Destruction Babies. Toei will release locally this autumn, and The Jokers Films is set to distribute in France.
Contact: Saka Kota, Toei
Gosh!!
Dir. Joe Odagiri
Directed by and starring Odagiri, this is the theatrical version of a Japanese TV series about a forensics investigator whose canine partner appears to him as a womanising middle-aged drunk in a dog suit (Odagiri). The investigator is played by Sosuke Ikematsu of My Sunshine, which played in Un Certain Regard last year. An autumn release is planned.
Contact: Miyuki Takamatsu, Free Stone Productions
Hero’s Island
Dir. Keishi Otomo
This three-hour-plus epic traces a group of outlaws and outsiders in Okinawa over a period of 20 years, from the post-war era to when the island chain was returned to Japan by the US in 1972. The ensemble cast is led by Satoshi Tsumabuki, who won best actor at the Japan Academy Awards in 2023 for Kei Ishikawa’s A Man, and features Suzu Hirose, who stars in Competition title A Pale View Of Hills. Otomo is known for his adaptations of the samurai manga Rurouni Kenshin.
Contact: Saka Kota, Toei
Hokusai’s Daughter
Dir. Tatsushi Omori
Masami Nagasawa stars as Katsushika Oi (also known as O-Ei), the daughter of renowned Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai, whose ‘The Great Wave Off Kanagawa’ is one of the country’s most recognisable works of art. Oi followed in her father’s footsteps and is thought to have finished most of his later paintings. Omori, known for 2013 Moscow jury prize winner The Ravine Of Goodbye, reunites with Nagasawa for the first time since his 2020 drama Mother, for which she won best actress at the Japan Academy Awards.
Contact: Ruka Okuyama, Nikkatsu
Tokyo Taxi
Dir. Yoji Yamada
Veteran director Yamada (The Twilight Samurai) is behind this remake of 2022 French film Driving Madeleine. Tokyo Taxi stars Takuya Kimura (Grand Maison Paris) as a cab driver whose encounter with an elderly passenger changes his outlook on life. The passenger is played by Chieko Baisho, who led Chie Hayakawa’s Plan 75, which played in Un Certain Regard in 2022. A local release is set for November.
Contact: Aya Takagawa, Shochiku
Two Seasons, Two Strangers
Dir. Sho Miyake
Based on a manga by surrealist artist Yoshiharu Tsuge, this film stars Korean actress Shim Eun-kyung (The Journalist) as a screenwriter who reflects on her life through a journey sparked by a chance encounter with a stranger. Miyake is the director of All The Long Nights (2024) and Small, Slow But Steady (2022), both of which played in the Berlinale. Currently in post-production, Two Seasons, Two Strangers is expected to be released in November.
Contact: Sayaka Ito, Bitters End
Welcome Back
Dir. Naoto Kawashima
This boxing film, the sophomore feature from Kawashima, revolves around two young boxers who grew up in the same apartment complex. After one suffers a defeat and retires, the other vows to exact revenge. The lead roles are played by Kaito Yoshimura, who debuted in director Koji Fukada’s Au Revoir L’été, and Yugo Mikawa of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cloud, which played at Venice last year.
Contact: Ruka Okuyama, Nikkatsu
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