Japanese directors who film in foreign locations often find themselves out of their cultural and linguistic depth. The non-Japanese characters are stereotypes and the foreign-language dialogue is hokey. Meanwhile, the exotic setting serves only as a cliched backdrop for the Japanese protagonists, the true focus of the exercise.
But in ¡°The Truth¡± (Original title: ¡°La verite¡°), his first film set abroad, Hirokazu Kore-eda proves that he can step out of his comfort zone ¡ª the Japanese family drama ¡ª into another culture without wrong-footing it.
The opening film of this year¡¯s Venice International Film Festival, ¡°The Truth¡± is a drama, based on Kore-eda¡¯s original script, about the testy reunion of a famous actress (Catherine Deneuve) and her adult daughter (Juliette Binoche) at the former¡¯s Paris home.
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