Which Japanese films are going to Cannes this year?

[anduril_narsil]

2 Japanese movies enter Cannes Film Festival competition

PARIS (Kyodo) -- Two Japanese movies will be screened at this year's Cannes Film Festival competition for the top prize Palme d'Or, organizers said Thursday.

"Soshite Chichi ni Naru" (Like Father, Like Son) directed by Hirokazu Koreeda and "Wara no Tate" (Shield of Straw) by Takashi Miike will be shown at the festival opening in southern France on May 15.

Other entries include new works by directors Roman Polanski and Steven Soderbergh.

U.S. director Steven Spielberg will head the jury at the 66th festival, which will run through May 26.

The movie by Koreeda is a human drama starring Masaharu Fukuyama, while the Miike piece is an action epic featuring Takao Osawa. They will be released in Japan Oct. 5 and April 26 respectively.

This is the third time in nine years for Koreeda's work to be screened at the Cannes competition since "Dare mo Shiranai" (Nobody Knows) in which Yuya Yagira won the Best Actor award. For Miike, it is the second time since "Ichimei" (Harakiri: Death of a Samurai) which entered two years ago.

"I am truly glad to be able to have the world premiere at the most prestigious stage," Koreeda said, while Miike said, "I am surprised and honored. To be honest, it was unexpected. Because of that alone, I am very moved." Both directors made comments in statements.



Soshite Chichi Ni Naru そして父になる (Like Father, Like Son)
directed by 是枝 裕和 Kore-eda Hirokazu
Japan

(trailer is unavailable)

Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda's ninth feature film, and his third to screen in competition, following Distance (2001), and Nobody Knows (2004). Tells the story of a successful businessman faced with a dilemma when he discovers that his biological son was switched with another child at birth. It stars Masaharu Fukuyama, Ono Machiko, Maki Yoko, and Lily Franky.

Wara No Tate 藁の楯 (Shield of Straw)
directed by 三池 崇史 Takashi Miike
Japan

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Prolific (in other words, too many titles to count) and controversial Japanese director Takashi Miike's second appearance in the main competition after Hara-kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011). He returns to Cannes with an adaptation of a novel of the same name by Kazuhiro Kiuchi. The second of two Japanese films in competition, it's an action thriller that revolves around a one-billion-yen bounty placed on the head of a suspected child-killer. It stars Nanako Matsushima, Tatsuya Fujiwara, and Takao Osawa.

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