After winning the Palme D’or at the Cannes Film Festival, Kore-film eda’s Shoplifters was nominated for the Best International Feature Oscar in 2018. Many of his films are slice-of-life stories about children and people in middle and lower class Japan dealing with contemporary issues. Kore-films eda’s are filled with compassion, and they walk a tight line between generating fascinating narratives for his characters while never glamorising their conditions. With his latest film Broker, the filmmaker returns to the festival this year. Until then, here are seven necessary films to witness Hirokazu Kore-outstanding eda’s work.
1. Nobody Knows (2004)
Cast- Yuya Yagira, Kitaura Ayu, Hiei Kimura
Keiko is a rambunctious single mother. She moves into a modest flat in Tokyo with her twelve-year-old son Akira Fukushima and his siblings Shigeru and Yuki. A second sibling, Kyoko, arrives by train later. The children have several fathers and receive no formal education, yet they live happily with their mother. When Keiko finds a new boyfriend, she abandons the children. Therefore, leaving Akira with some money and the responsibility of caring for his brothers. When the money runs out, Akira finds a way to make ends meet by surviving with the kids who don’t have access to electricity, gas, or water at home, and a landlord who demands payment.
2. Maborosi (1995)
Cast- Makiko Esumi, Tadanobu Asano, Takashi Naitô
Yukimo gets plague by a dreadful nightmare about her grandmother’s death, despite her ostensibly joyful and peaceful life as a wife and new mother. When her spouse, Ikuo, gets kill in a car accident, Yukimo retreats into her shell until a sympathetic widower tries to entice her out. Hirokazu Koreeda, a Japanese filmmaker well renowned for his documentaries, has directed his first narrative picture.
3. Still Walking (2008)
Cast- Hiroshi Abe, Yui Natsukawa, Kirin Kiki
Still Walking is a family drama set over one summer day about grown children visiting their ageing parents. For decades, the elderly parents have resided in the family home. Their son and daughter reunite with their own families for a rare family reunion. They’ve gathered to remember their eldest son, who drowned in a boating accident fifteen years ago. Despite the fact that the spacious house is as welcoming and unchanging as the mother’s prepared feast, everyone in the family has changed slightly.
4. After Life (1998)
Cast- Erika Oda, Arata Iura, Takashi Naitô
a group of recently deceased individuals find themselves in a limbo region that resembles a common structure. Newcomers can choose one memory from their lives to take with them into eternity with the guidance of counsellors like Takashi and Shiori. After the memories gets pick, the staff creates a short video for each one, which is then compile into a collage of poignant cinematic events.
5. Like Father, Like Son (2013)
Cast- Masaharu Fukuyama, Machiko Ono, Yôko Maki
A family gets torment after receiving a phone call from the hospital where their son was born. Ryota has worked hard for what he has, and he believes that nothing will stop him from living his ideal life as a winner. Then he and his wife, Midori, receive an unexpected phone call from the hospital one day. Keita, their 6-year-old son, is not ‘their’ child. They were given the wrong baby by the hospital. Ryota is force to choose between “nature” and “nurture,” a life-altering decision. Ryota begins to wonder if he has truly been a ‘father’ all these years after witnessing Midori’s dedication to Keita even after learning his origins and speaking with the gruff yet caring family who has nurtured his natural son for the past six years.
6. Shoplifter (2018)
Cast- Sakura Ando, Mayu Matsuoka, Kirin Kiki
To make ends meet, a Japanese couple with part-time employment and thus insufficient money resort to theft. This behaviour is not unique to them. Both the younger and elder members of the family are involved. The couple’s unique routine is about to alter from carefree and mundane to something more dramatic when they welcome a troubled young girl into their home. The reasons for the family’s habit, as well as their motivations, gets examine.
7. The Truth (2019)
Cast- Ethan Hawke, Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche
Fabienne is an old French film star who, despite occasional memory lapses, is still a formidable force to be reckoned with. Lumir, her daughter, travels to Paris from New York with her husband and their small daughter to celebrate the publication of her mother’s memoirs. As Lumir takes issue with Fabienne’s rose-colored account of the past, the mother-daughter team engages in a fierce and amusing battle of wits. Their tense relationship continues a tragic journey toward probable reconciliation, as ingeniously reflected by Fabienne’s latest part in a science fiction drama.
