LakshmiWinning the Queer Palm and the Best Screenplay prize at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, this story swerves differently from acclaimed director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s previous movies like “Broker” and “Shoplifters”.
Revolving around the relationship between two young children, the story explores the entanglement from three perspectives- the parent of one of the boys, his teacher, and himself, who are involved in a convoluted quest for comprehension of the primordial tragedies and the dicey cluster of events that influence the happenings of their lives.
Soya Kurokawa and Hinata Hiiragi in a still from the film. Photo: Well Go USA; Cannes Film Festival
The script, written by Yuki Sakamoto, delves into Minato’s (Soya Kurokawa) life as he enters fifth grade. He chooses to label himself as a Monster. When an anxious, injured Minato arrives home, his mother’s (Sakura Ando) growing concern leads her to believe that his teacher (Eita Nagayama) is responsible for the injuries inflicted upon her son and escalates the issue with his school authorities, resulting in the dismissal of the teacher due to the accusation.
The young boys in character. Photo: Well Go USA
For the first time since 1995, the script was not written by Kore-eda. This atypical Kore-eda movie, shines, owing to the collaborative effort between him and the scriptwriter Sakamoto, combining Kore-eda’s sublime, naturalist style and Sakamoto’s chase to unearth the verity of the character Minato’s life, revealing the importance of perseverance and compassion in human nature.
The filming chiefly took place in 2022, across 25 locations in the Suwa Region of Nagano Prefecture in Japan.
The late Japanese composer and pianist, Ryuichi Sakamoto committed to producing the music for the movie, at the request of the director. He combined tracks from his last album and old songs to compose the whole score, as he was physically unable to create an entirely new score. In a commentary, Sakamoto declared that the film dealt with an abstruse theme, making it challenging to discover who the Monster was. The aching score, beautifully transversed seeking the haunting single truth, amidst three different perspectives.
Undoubtedly one of the greatest films of this year, Oscar-worthy and magnificent, the realism of this narrative makes us wonder : Would people be able to realize that, despite our appearance, we are not monsters?
| Release Date: 2023-05-17 (Cannes) 2023-09-10 (TIFF) | Distributor(s): Gaga, Toho | ||||
| Cast: Sakura Ando, Eita Nagayama, | Producers: Minami Ichikawa, Ryo Ota, Kiyoshi Taguchi, Hajima Ushioda, Kenji Yamada, Tatsumi Oda | ||||
| Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda | Screenplay: Yuji Sakamoto | ||||
| Runtime: 125 Minutes | Genres: Drama, mystery, thriller |
Lakshmi
