Hirokazu Kore-eda

[zedz]

One more episode to go on Makanai. A very pleasant series that might be a bit confined by manga-imposed plotting beyond Kore'eda's control.

Agreed, the constraints of the originating format are apparent, but this is a very charming production, and has a formal sophistication that distinguishes it from its streaming brethren. For instance, there's often an overlapping, Altmanesque bustle to crowded scenes, but there are also 'empty' contemplative sequences of focussed performance (dance, cooking), and frequent elision of conventionally dramatic scenes.

It's also a great Kyoto film. if you know the city reasonably well you can recognize many of the locations (e.g. Nishiki Market, the Shirakawa River, the south side of Kyoto Station) and understand the paths characters are taking through the city.

[Michael Kerpan]

It's also a great Kyoto film.

It makes my wife and I feel very nostalgic... We want to go back.

[yoloswegmaster]

Teaser for Kaibutsu (Monster), starring Sakura Ando, scored by Ryuichi Sakamoto.

New poster:



Is this the first time Kore-eda has worked with Toho?

[Michael Kerpan]

>> Is this the first time Kore-eda has worked with Toho?

I think so. But it looks like GAGA is the primary distributor (as in several other recent Kore'eda films).

[yoloswegmaster]

New trailer for Monster

I'm just hoping that this is better than Broker, which to me is the weakest film that Kore-eda has made (I haven't seen The Truth).

[vsski]

I assume Kaibutsu hasn’t been released in the US yet, hence no discussion of the movie on the forum so far. I managed to finally catch up with it in Tokyo and look forward to the discourse that may ensue here. Without giving away too much for those not having seen the movie, Kore-eda is going back to his more familiar line of family movies with a mother and her son at the center of it and in this case a layered story line that slowly reveals through recounting events from different viewpoints what really transpired. It has some superb acting most notably by Andō Sakura as the mother and the two youngsters. As most here will know the movie wasn’t written by Kore-eda himself and maybe this is why at least for me it felt different from his previous family dramas and less nuanced and subtle, but Sakamoto Yuji won the screenwriting price at Cannes, so what do I know. As a long time fan of almost everything that Kore-eda has done, this certainly for me was a film worth seeing and I will have to revisit it again to see how I fully feel about it, but it didn’t have the emotional impact some of his other films like Maborosi, After the Storm and Still Walking had on me after first viewing. I look forward to the discussion on the forum here.

[Michael Kerpan]

I wonder how long it will be until this shows up in US theaters?

[Soy Cuba]

New trailer for Monster

I'm just hoping that this is better than Broker, which to me is the weakest film that Kore-eda has made (I haven't seen The Truth).

I've not seen The Truth either but I thought Broker was better than After The Storm

1. Maborosi
2. Nobody Knows
3. Shoplifters
4. I wish
5. Like Father Like Son
6. The Third Murder
7. Still Walking
8. After Life
9. Our Little Sister
10. Broker
11. After The Storm

Really need to see 'Distance'

[Michael Kerpan]

Soy Cuba -- Also missing Air Doll and Hana yori mo naho... (which I loved -- even if many critics did not).

I find it almost impossible to rank the films...

I wish the documentaries (including the one on the Okinawan singer, Cocco) were available with subs.

[Soy Cuba]

Soy Cuba -- Also missing Air Doll and Hana yori mo naho... (which I loved -- even if many critics did not).

I find it almost impossible to rank the films...

I wish the documentaries (including the one on the Okinawan singer, Cocco) were available with subs.

Oh I've seen Air Doll too, thanks. Quite liked it, even if I thought it was basically the same film as Spike Jonze's 'Her'.

Hana - I don't really know why but I don't feel compelled to race to it.

[yoloswegmaster]

Soy Cuba -- Also missing Air Doll and Hana yori mo naho... (which I loved -- even if many critics did not).

I find it almost impossible to rank the films...

I wish the documentaries (including the one on the Okinawan singer, Cocco) were available with subs.

Which ones are you looking for specificially? Send me a DM as I've found a few of them that have English subs and I did find a 10GB file of the Cocco documentary but I have to see if it has subs included.

[Michael Kerpan]

yoloswegmaster -- I think I have versions of most of the older docs with subs of one sort or another (somewhere) -- but I only have the Japanese DVD of Cocco. I mainly wish legit versions exist so more people could see these.

Soy Cuba -- Hana is set concurrently with 47 Loyal Ronin (which is happening on the edge of Kore'eda's story) -- and is basically a rejection of the ideology behind the Chushingura story. I found it fascinating and quite likeable (and an interesting companion piece to Yoji Yamada's samurai (more-or-less) trilogy.

[Michael Kerpan]

The UK BD of Broker seems to have all sorts of extras, while the US seemsto be totally barebones. Anyone seen either of these yet? Especially the UK one. Are the extras worth the extra cost?