The world’s most prestigious film festival returns hits 69 next week, with a line-up as international as ever. Along with the tale of a naked green fairy titled “Wolf and Sheep” – the first feature at Cannes by a female Afghan director, there will be four Japanese films on show during the May 11-22 event. New works by Hirokazu Koreeda and Koji Fukada will be competing in the Un Certain Regard section, both of which examine family relationships. Two more are set to be screened in Cannes Classics.Japanese cinema has fared fairly well at Cannes over the years, starting in 1954, the 7th festival, when Teinosuke Kinugasa’s “Gate of Hell” won the top prize, now known as the Palme d’Or. Akira Kurosawa would win it in 1980 for “Kagemusha,” followed by Shohei Imamura for “The Ballad of Narayama” (1983). Imamura who would repeat the feat in 1997 with “The Eel,” the most recent Japanese film to win the prize.Un Certain Regard“After The Storm” – Hirokazu Koreeda53-year-old director Hirokazu Koreeda is quite used to Cannes by now, his films have competed in 3 of the last 4 years. In 2013 “Like Father, Like Son” was nominated for the Palme d’Or, inspiring Steven Spielberg to pick up the remake rights. Last year he was back with “Our Little Sister” again up for the top prize, and this year Koreeda presents his latest in the Un Certain Regard section.“After The Storm” stars Hiroshi Abe, Kirin Kiki and Yoko Maki, in a tale of a prize-winning author who dwells on his past glory while wasting his money of gambling. Hoping to reconnect with his family he spends a stormy summer night with his son that enables them to reconnect.“Harmonium” – Koji FukadaKoji Fukada remains quite unknown to the world of international cinema, but “Harmonium” is his sixth feature, and tells the story of a small workshop owner in a Japanese village. The owner Toshio hires an old friend, Yasaka, who has recently been released from prison, leading to meddling in his personal life. The picture stars Tadanobu Asano, who has spent the last few years working in Hollywood, notably as the warrior Hogun in the “Thor” movies, as well as in “47 Ronin” (2013) and “Battleship” (2012).Cannes Classics “Momotaro, Sacred Sailors” (Momotarô, Umi no shinpei) – Mitsuyo SeoMitsuyo Seo, born 1911, is one of the pioneers of Japanese animation, and this work is the very first feature length anime film, released in 1944. “Momotaro, Sacred Sailors,” is actually a 74-minute propaganda film made during World War II, and the sequel to the much shorter “Momotaro’s Sea Eagles” (Momotaro no Umiwashi) (1943). Made for kabuki production company and movie studio Shochiku, it inspired the teenage Osamu Tezuka to try his hand a manga and animation – he woud go on to create Astro Boy/Mighty Atom and is today considered the father of Japanese manga. This work by the former sign painter from Himeji started it all.“Ugetsu” (Ugetsu monogatari) – Kenji MizoguchiRoger Ebert has called this 1953 gem “one of the greatest of all films. At the end of “Ugetsu,” aware we have seen a fable, we also feel curiously as if we have witnessed true lives and fates.” Released three years after Akira Kurosawa’s “Rashomon” and shown at the 1953 Venice Film Festival, “Ugetsu” is set in the 16th Century and tells a supernatural fable of two ambitious men, a farmer and a craftsman, who each have bigger dreams of becoming a samurai and tradesman respectively. Their two wives worry about an advancing army during he civil war of the time, and lessons of love, family and the effects of ambition are explored in a film considered one of the most beautiful ever made.
↧