Festival season is well and truly underway and in the first of two big announcements of today Cannes has confirmed its full lineup. China, HK, and Taiwan are notably absent this year but it’s otherwise a good one for Asian film with five features from Korea (inlcuding two from prolific director Hong Sang-soo) and three from Japan. Scroll down for a checklist by country:
In the Competition section, Cannes favourite Naomi Kawase returns with her latest movie – Radiance (光, Hikari) which stars An’s Masatoshi Nagase as a photographer slowly losing his eyesight.
Trailer (no subtitles)
She’ll be up against Bong Joon-ho’s Netflix backed Okja (옥자)
The story of a young girl’s struggle to save her mysterious animal friend from a giant multi-national company, Okja will be streamed worldwide on Netflix from June 28.
Hong Sang-soo rounds out the competition section with the first of two films he’s bringing to Cannes, The Day After. Hong is also featured in the Special Screening strand with Claire’s Camera which reunites him with French actress Isabelle Huppert.
Moving on to Un Certain Regard, Kiyoshi Kurosawa returns to the festival with Before We Vanish (散歩する侵略者, Sanpo Suru Shinryakusha).
This tale of love and alien invasion stars Masami Nagasawa, Ryuhei Matsuda, and Hiroki Hasegawa.
Trailer (no subtitles)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRahLuYwZxE
Takashi Miike’s Blade of the Immortal (無限の住人, Mugen no Junin) plays Out of Competition.
Adaptation of the well known manga stars Takuya Kimura.
Trailer (no subtitles)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHQiWqvh1fo
The remaining two Korean entries land in the Midnight Screenings selection.
Byun Sung-hyun’s Merciless (불한당: 나쁜 놈들의 세상, Boolhandang: Nabbeun Nomdeului Sesang) stars Sol Kyung-gu in a prison / gang thriller
and Jung Byung-gil’s The Villainness (악녀, Aknyeo) stars Kim Ok-vin as a mysterious hitwoman from Yanbian who comes south to start a new life but gets mixed up with two South Korean guys one of whom also trains assassins.
Checklist by country:
Japan
- Naomi Kawase – Radiance (光, Hikari)
- Kiyoshi Kurosawa – Before We Vanish (散歩する侵略者, Sanpo Suru Shinryakusha)
- Takashi Miike – Blade of the Immortal (無限の住人, Mugen no Junin)
South Korea
- Hong Sang-soo – The Day After
- Hong Sang-soo – Claire’s Camera
- Bong Joon-ho – Okja (옥자)
- Byun Sung-hyun – Merciless (불한당: 나쁜 놈들의 세상, Boolhandang: Nabbeun Nomdeului Sesang)
- Jung Byung-gil – The Villainess (악녀, Aknyeo)
Windows on Worlds 