The belief that the dead live on in our memories is often the only comfort anyone can think to offer the bereaved, or those in the process of losing a loved one. But for Takashi (Mirai Moriyama), the introspective adult son at the heart of Kei Chika-ura’s quietly tectonic heartbreaker, that comfort is unavailable on multiple levels. Not only has he been long estranged from his father, Yohji (a shattering San Sebastian Best Performance-winning Tatsuya Fuji), but Yohji’s own precipitous descent into the fog of dementia means that whatever Takashi can now learn of him, at this late stage, is jumbled and fragmentary and possibly false. How can we adequately remember someone who cannot remember himself?
Like so much of “Great Absence,” that question is posed as a kind of mystery, made all the eerier by the ordinariness of the clues that tease its solution — an uncanceled meal delivery,...
Like so much of “Great Absence,” that question is posed as a kind of mystery, made all the eerier by the ordinariness of the clues that tease its solution — an uncanceled meal delivery,...
- 10/3/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Tatsuya Fuji, Mirai Moriyama star.
Gaga Corporation has acquired international sales rights excluding Japan on Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Platform entry Great Absence ahead of its European premiere in San Sebastian later this month.
Tatsuya Fuji and dance artist Mirai Moriyama star in the recent TIFF world premiere, which marks director Kei Chika-ura’s second feature after Complicity premiered at 2018 TIFF.
Great Absence is inspired by Chika-ura’s own experiences and centres on Takashi, a man who has been estranged from his father Yohji for 20 years and returns home with his wife after receiving a call from the police...
Gaga Corporation has acquired international sales rights excluding Japan on Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Platform entry Great Absence ahead of its European premiere in San Sebastian later this month.
Tatsuya Fuji and dance artist Mirai Moriyama star in the recent TIFF world premiere, which marks director Kei Chika-ura’s second feature after Complicity premiered at 2018 TIFF.
Great Absence is inspired by Chika-ura’s own experiences and centres on Takashi, a man who has been estranged from his father Yohji for 20 years and returns home with his wife after receiving a call from the police...
- 9/20/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Great Absence, the second feature film from Japanese director Kei Chika-ura, is receiving its world premiere in Toronto International Film Festival’s Platform section.
Inspired by Kei’s real-life experiences, the film tells the story of an actor living in Tokyo who is forced to travel home when the police call to say his father is suffering from dementia and has lost touch with reality. Making matters worse, his father’s second wife appears to be missing.
The actor makes the trip home with his own wife, full of conflicted emotions over a man who left the family when he was still a child, and starts an exploration into the mysteries of his father’s life. Along the way, the film touches on themes including time and memory, familial obligation and the role that women play in male-dominated Japanese society.
Veteran actor Tatsuya Fuji (In The Realm Of The Senses) plays the father,...
Inspired by Kei’s real-life experiences, the film tells the story of an actor living in Tokyo who is forced to travel home when the police call to say his father is suffering from dementia and has lost touch with reality. Making matters worse, his father’s second wife appears to be missing.
The actor makes the trip home with his own wife, full of conflicted emotions over a man who left the family when he was still a child, and starts an exploration into the mysteries of his father’s life. Along the way, the film touches on themes including time and memory, familial obligation and the role that women play in male-dominated Japanese society.
Veteran actor Tatsuya Fuji (In The Realm Of The Senses) plays the father,...
- 9/8/2023
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
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
The cinema of Hirokazu Koreeda is profoundly wonderful. His masterful storytelling and his elegant direction make for some unforgettable viewing experiences. Koreeda understands the complexions of human beings and brings them to the forefront in the scenarios he establishes in his movies. It would be hard to decide what is the director’s finest project. However, one thing is certain: his delicate feature “After Life” is a masterpiece.
Following the success of his film “Maborosi,” Hirokazu Koreeda proceeded with his next project. When constructing the concept for his next feature, the director took to his childhood memories of his grandfather, who gradually lost his memory during illness. These events would show the artist how important memory is to an individual’s identity. In conjunction with this, he would interview hundreds of people to prepare for this uniquely artistic work. Upon release, “After Life” would become a big hit and boost Koreeda’s popularity internationally.
Following the success of his film “Maborosi,” Hirokazu Koreeda proceeded with his next project. When constructing the concept for his next feature, the director took to his childhood memories of his grandfather, who gradually lost his memory during illness. These events would show the artist how important memory is to an individual’s identity. In conjunction with this, he would interview hundreds of people to prepare for this uniquely artistic work. Upon release, “After Life” would become a big hit and boost Koreeda’s popularity internationally.
- 8/6/2022
- by Sean Barry
- AsianMoviePulse
It is fair to say that Hirokazu Koreeda is a master of the sentimental family drama, with earlier films such as “Nobody Knows” (2004) and his recent string of lauded dramas “I Wish” (2011), “Like Father, Like Son” (2013) and “Our Little Sister” (2015), all of which deal with the relationships between parents and siblings. Writing and directing almost all of his films himself, has allowed Koreeda to develop a recognisable style of his own that is beautiful and plaintive.
“I Wish” (2011) tells the story of two young boys, separated by their parents as they plot to be re-united. The older brother Koichi (Koki Maeda) lives with his mother Nozomi (Nene Otsuka), while the younger brother Ryunosuke (Oshiro Maeda) lives with his musician father Kenji (Joe Odagiri). Koichi hears a rumour that once the new Shinkansen bullet train is running, if you can stand at the point of the track where...
“I Wish” (2011) tells the story of two young boys, separated by their parents as they plot to be re-united. The older brother Koichi (Koki Maeda) lives with his mother Nozomi (Nene Otsuka), while the younger brother Ryunosuke (Oshiro Maeda) lives with his musician father Kenji (Joe Odagiri). Koichi hears a rumour that once the new Shinkansen bullet train is running, if you can stand at the point of the track where...
- 4/10/2020
- by Matthew Cooper
- AsianMoviePulse
Close-Up is a feature that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Naomi Kawase's Still the Water (2014) is showing March 15 – April 13, 2019 in the United States as part of the double feature Love and Death in Japan.It’s been a little over two decades since Naomi Kawase emerged triumphant from the 1997 Cannes Film Festival with her Camera d’Or winning debut film, Moe no Suzaku. Since then the Japanese auteur has pivoted back and forth between fiction and nonfiction, but remains steadfast in her commitment to capturing the erotic undercurrents of the natural world, and how these elements unfold alongside personal reckonings, realizations, and tragedies. The recent success of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters—its institutional recognition at Cannes and in Hollywood marking the culmination of over a decade of critically-beloved trademark family dramas by the director—would seem to pit the two Japanese filmmakers against each other. Both are Cannes regulars,...
- 3/15/2019
- MUBI
Following its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year – as well as subsequent screenings at a handful of other festivals including Sydney, Telluride, and most recently New York, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s masterful Shoplifters now has a domestic trailer and theatrical release date, courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
In the past, Kore-eda has found success at Cannes with the premieres of Like Father Like Son, Our Little Sister, and After the Storm. This year was no different as Shoplifters went on to win the coveted Palme d’Or. Playing into familiar narrative themes, Kore-eda tells the story of a barren family with an unconventional skillset: shoplifting. After another one of their nightly outings of petty crime, father-of-the-family Osamu and his son decide to take in a young girl that they find all alone in the streets. Eventually, their lifestyle catches up with them, and what once used to bring them together,...
In the past, Kore-eda has found success at Cannes with the premieres of Like Father Like Son, Our Little Sister, and After the Storm. This year was no different as Shoplifters went on to win the coveted Palme d’Or. Playing into familiar narrative themes, Kore-eda tells the story of a barren family with an unconventional skillset: shoplifting. After another one of their nightly outings of petty crime, father-of-the-family Osamu and his son decide to take in a young girl that they find all alone in the streets. Eventually, their lifestyle catches up with them, and what once used to bring them together,...
- 10/9/2018
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
With Like Father Like Son (2013), Our Little Sister (2015), and After the Storm (2016) all premiering one after the other at the Cannes film festival and The Third Murder getting a berth last autumn in Venice, it seemed as if Hirokazu Kore-eda, now well settled into this mature career groove, was making great films with every other effort. So does Shoplifters — which has the director once again competing for the Palme d’Or — adhere to this pattern? It would seem so.
After the peculiar courtroom detours of Murder, Kore-eda returns to familiar ground — and returns to form — with Shoplifters, yet another story of unusual family setups and one that, once again, ponders questions of what exactly constitutes normal or even healthy choices when raising a child.
The story focuses on one such unconventional family, this time made up of an older matriarch named Hatsue (played by Kore-eda regular Kirin Kiki); Nobuyo and...
After the peculiar courtroom detours of Murder, Kore-eda returns to familiar ground — and returns to form — with Shoplifters, yet another story of unusual family setups and one that, once again, ponders questions of what exactly constitutes normal or even healthy choices when raising a child.
The story focuses on one such unconventional family, this time made up of an older matriarch named Hatsue (played by Kore-eda regular Kirin Kiki); Nobuyo and...
- 5/16/2018
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
Sachio Kinugasa is a formerly successful writer who currently makes his living by appearing on talk shows. He is married to a hairstylist, Natsuko, but constantly ignores her while he is having an affair with his editor. His life turns upside down when Natsuko is killed in a bus accident, along with her friend Yuko. The two widowers, Sachio and Yoichi deal with the incident in completely different fashion. Sachio tries to “seduce” the media once more, while Yoichi is utterly devastated. However, due to Yoichi’s efforts to become friends with him, the two men start socializing, and eventually Sachio agrees to act as a babysitter for Yoichi’s two kids, Shinpei and Akari. As he starts warming up to them, Sachio realizes the mistakes he has made in his life, particularly regarding his deceased wife.
Miwa Nishikawa directs and pens (actually adapts her own book) a touching movie that starts as a drama,...
Miwa Nishikawa directs and pens (actually adapts her own book) a touching movie that starts as a drama,...
- 11/17/2016
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
During the last two decades, Hirokazu Koreeda has emerged as the contemporary master of Japanese family drama, with films like “Nobody Knows”, “Still Walking”, “Like Father, Like Son” and many more. “After the Storm” continues his legacy in the genre.
A lowlife and his family
Ryota, an ex prize-winning novelist has fallen on hard times. He has stopped writing and currently works in a Pi agency. However, he spends the money he earns (with shady tactics) on gambling, and is constantly broke. His wife, Kyoko has divorced him, and since he does not pay his alimony, she does not let him see his son. In order to cope, he tries to earn money by pawning stuff from his parents’ house, although his mother, Yoshiko, is on to him, as is everybody else.
Furthermore, when he discovers that his wife is meeting someone, he starts stalking her, since he does not...
A lowlife and his family
Ryota, an ex prize-winning novelist has fallen on hard times. He has stopped writing and currently works in a Pi agency. However, he spends the money he earns (with shady tactics) on gambling, and is constantly broke. His wife, Kyoko has divorced him, and since he does not pay his alimony, she does not let him see his son. In order to cope, he tries to earn money by pawning stuff from his parents’ house, although his mother, Yoshiko, is on to him, as is everybody else.
Furthermore, when he discovers that his wife is meeting someone, he starts stalking her, since he does not...
- 10/22/2016
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
One might wonder that whether we need yet another film about a blow up sex doll, especially one coming from the long time Hirokazu Kore-Eda's cinematographer Yutaka Yamasaki. Not that Kore-Eda's approach in Air Doll was in any way sensationalistic, but Yamasaki's Torso is neither an over the top titillating sex comedy nor a whimsical fantasy about an inanimate semen receptacle coming to life. It's rather a quiet character study deeply rooted in realism. Hiroko (Makiko Watanabe) is a thirty something office worker and by all account, a cold fish. She seems quite satisfied with her single woman status. Her interactions with people including her younger half-sister Mina (Love Exposure's Sakura Ando) are curt and distant. She declines invitations to the night outings by the...
- 7/15/2011
- Screen Anarchy
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda Writer: Hirokazu Kore-eda Cinematographer: Yutaka Yamasaki Starring: Hiroshi Abe, Yui Natsukawa, You, Kazuya Takahashi Studio/Runtime: Criterion/114 mins. In every sense of the word except one, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Still Walking is a classic. The film elegantly covers the one-day reunion of the Yokoyama family on the 15th anniversary of the death of the family’s oldest son. As is the tradition in this sort of picture, the reunion is bittersweet, with everyone attempting to play the affectionate roles they’re supposed to, while being unable to get past the anger and difficulties of the past. It’s a story...
- 2/15/2011
- Pastemagazine.com
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