When Hirokazu Kore-eda¡¯s ¡°Shoplifters¡± won the Palme d¡¯Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018, it was in recognition of a filmmaker working at the peak of his abilities. But as he recounts in the production notes for his latest movie, ¡°Monster,¡± he¡¯d begun to feel like he was running out of things to say.
That might explain why the director headed overseas for his next two films ¡ª to France for ¡°The Truth¡± (2019) and then South Korea for ¡°Broker¡± (2022) ¡ª with mixed results. His return to Japanese-language cinema is also a change of pace in that he¡¯s working from someone else¡¯s script, something he hasn¡¯t done since ¡°Maborosi¡± way back in 1995.
¡°Monster¡± teams him up with screenwriter Yuji Sakamoto, who¡¯ll be familiar to Japanese audiences from both his extensive TV work and the 2021 romantic drama ¡°We Made a Beautiful Bouquet.¡± Although the two men share a taste for complex, messy characters, Sakamoto takes a much more hands-on approach to storytelling.
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