Legendary Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda has become a mainstay of the Cannes Film Festival. His latest films, Sheep in the boxa sci-fi film about a couple who adopt a humanoid robot after the death of their son, will be his eighth film in competition. Kore-eda, born in Toyko, was a member of the jury, chaired by Greta Gerwig, two years ago, and before that, his film Thieves It won the Palme d’Or in 2018 and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
But while a lot of promise surrounded Kore-eda when he was first invited to Cannes in 2001 with his film… distanceThis call may have been premature, and his subsequent success could not have been predicted. in Director magazineNoah Cowan wrote: “I’m a huge fan of Hirokazu Kore-eda distance. But after its exemplary global success After lifewhich seemed to revive the metaphysical art film on its own, expectations were too high to put this small and fragile film under the heat of competition.
The film’s events take place three years after a cult poisoned drinking water in Tokyo and then committed mass suicide. Five survivors return to the site of the suicide and remember those they lost. Kwan described the story as “so mysterious and unresolved that it allows little to be produced after so much work. But I can’t think of any filmmaker who would have had the courage to try such a rigorous approach with such an open wound to a subject matter, especially in Japan. Rumor has it that it was raised for competition at the last minute – what foolishness.”
THR Critic Michael Rechtshafen was less forgiving, saying: “With its reliance on shaky handheld camera work, unscripted dialogue and a heavily wooded backdrop, distance feels like The Blair Witch Project Minus the creepy bits.
But Cannes stuck by Kore-eda, who later told broadcaster Kuriko Sato that “the experience of making distance It gave me a broader perspective on how to make a film.
THR Newsletters
Sign up to get THR news straight to your inbox every day
Subscribe subscription
