Japanese film “Shoplifters” been described as a surprise winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or. That may have more to do with the director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s steady output and six previous appearances in Cannes, rather than any slight against his latest humanist drama, which is both familiar and inventive.
Cannes jury president Cate Blanchett called it a difficult decision, but the right choice for Palme d’Or. “We were completely bowled over by ‘Shoplifters.’ How intermeshed the performances were with the directorial vision,” Blanchett said.
“In a long career of incredible peaks, Hirokazu Kore-eda has delivered one of his best works. ‘Shoplifters’ is an incredible story that deals with familial bonds in a way I’ve never seen before,” said Eamon Bowles, president of Magnolia Films, which grabbed North American rights to the film a day before the closing ceremony.
And the film scored highly with reviewers.
Cannes jury president Cate Blanchett called it a difficult decision, but the right choice for Palme d’Or. “We were completely bowled over by ‘Shoplifters.’ How intermeshed the performances were with the directorial vision,” Blanchett said.
“In a long career of incredible peaks, Hirokazu Kore-eda has delivered one of his best works. ‘Shoplifters’ is an incredible story that deals with familial bonds in a way I’ve never seen before,” said Eamon Bowles, president of Magnolia Films, which grabbed North American rights to the film a day before the closing ceremony.
And the film scored highly with reviewers.
- 5/19/2018
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Magnolia Pictures has acquired North American rights to Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s new drama “Shoplifters” following its premiere this week in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, the company announced Friday.
Magnolia, which had previously released the director’s film “I Wish,” did not disclose terms of the deal.
The drama follows a father and son team of shoplifters who come across a little girl in the freezing cold. At first reluctant to shelter the girl, Osamu’s wife agrees to take care of her after learning of the hardships she faces. Although the family is poor, barely making enough money to survive through petty crime, they seem to live happily together until an unforeseen incident reveals hidden secrets, testing the bonds that unite them.
Also Read: 'Shoplifters' Cannes Review: Is the Seventh Time a Charm for Hirokazu Kore-eda?
TheWrap critic Ben Croll hailed “Shoplifters” as Kore-Eda’s “richest...
Magnolia, which had previously released the director’s film “I Wish,” did not disclose terms of the deal.
The drama follows a father and son team of shoplifters who come across a little girl in the freezing cold. At first reluctant to shelter the girl, Osamu’s wife agrees to take care of her after learning of the hardships she faces. Although the family is poor, barely making enough money to survive through petty crime, they seem to live happily together until an unforeseen incident reveals hidden secrets, testing the bonds that unite them.
Also Read: 'Shoplifters' Cannes Review: Is the Seventh Time a Charm for Hirokazu Kore-eda?
TheWrap critic Ben Croll hailed “Shoplifters” as Kore-Eda’s “richest...
- 5/18/2018
- by Thom Geier
- The Wrap
Magnolia Pictures has picked up North American rights to “Shoplifters,” the acclaimed new drama from Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda, Variety has learned.
The film is in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and marks the director’s seventh time appearing at the prestigious French gathering for cinephiles. “Shoplifters” has garnered strong reviews for its humanist look at a family living on the margins. Variety’s Maggie Lee, for instance, wrote that Kore-eda “makes a mature and heart-wrenching return to his socially-conscious dramas,” while IndieWire’s David Ehrlich declared that “Shoplifters” is “the very best of the writer-director’s delicate, deceptive, and profoundly moving dramas about the forces that hold a family together (or don’t).”
The film follows a petty thief named Osamu who comes across a little girl who is struggling to survive in the freezing cold. He’s eventually able to convince his wife to take...
The film is in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and marks the director’s seventh time appearing at the prestigious French gathering for cinephiles. “Shoplifters” has garnered strong reviews for its humanist look at a family living on the margins. Variety’s Maggie Lee, for instance, wrote that Kore-eda “makes a mature and heart-wrenching return to his socially-conscious dramas,” while IndieWire’s David Ehrlich declared that “Shoplifters” is “the very best of the writer-director’s delicate, deceptive, and profoundly moving dramas about the forces that hold a family together (or don’t).”
The film follows a petty thief named Osamu who comes across a little girl who is struggling to survive in the freezing cold. He’s eventually able to convince his wife to take...
- 5/18/2018
- by Brent Lang and Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Tonight the BAFTA Video Game Awards are being held in London and the list of nominees shows the breadth of talent being celebrated and you can watch along live with us.
BAFTA’s push to educate people about the importance of gaming and to celebrate the very best in this medium is commendable and they are best placed to do this with access to the top names in the industry.
The titles being celebrated tonight include the annual editions of the most popular franchises but there’s a lot of innovation on show; the latest version of Call of Duty, Portal 2, Super Mario 3D Land and the internet-conquerinig Skyrim are all up for awards tonight along with many more.
The IGN stream will go live from 20.15 and you can watch along below,
Here’s the feed, enjoy!
The 2012 BAFTA Game Award nominees are below,
Action
Assassin’s Creed Revelations - Martin Schelling,...
BAFTA’s push to educate people about the importance of gaming and to celebrate the very best in this medium is commendable and they are best placed to do this with access to the top names in the industry.
The titles being celebrated tonight include the annual editions of the most popular franchises but there’s a lot of innovation on show; the latest version of Call of Duty, Portal 2, Super Mario 3D Land and the internet-conquerinig Skyrim are all up for awards tonight along with many more.
The IGN stream will go live from 20.15 and you can watch along below,
Here’s the feed, enjoy!
The 2012 BAFTA Game Award nominees are below,
Action
Assassin’s Creed Revelations - Martin Schelling,...
- 3/16/2012
- by Jon Lyus
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Last week it was all about the 2012 BAFTA Film Awards, and now sees our attention turn to gaming with the announcement of the nominees for the BAFTA Video Game Awards 2012. We were there last year and hope to be covering it again this year. But in the meantime here’s the full list of nominees, featuring the cream of the crop of video gaming.
Personally I hope Uncharted 3 sweeps the board in all the categories its nominated in, and – being a Mario fan – I hope Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 pick up awards… although Dead Space iOS could give them a run for the money in the handheld categories!
Action
Assassin’s Creed Revelations – Martin Schelling, Darby McDevitt, Raphael Lacoste / Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft Batman: Arkham City – Jamie Walker, Sefton Hill, Adam Doherty / Rocksteady Studios/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – Development Team / Infinity Ward...
Personally I hope Uncharted 3 sweeps the board in all the categories its nominated in, and – being a Mario fan – I hope Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 pick up awards… although Dead Space iOS could give them a run for the money in the handheld categories!
Action
Assassin’s Creed Revelations – Martin Schelling, Darby McDevitt, Raphael Lacoste / Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft Batman: Arkham City – Jamie Walker, Sefton Hill, Adam Doherty / Rocksteady Studios/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – Development Team / Infinity Ward...
- 2/16/2012
- by Phil
- Nerdly
Last week was all about the movie awards but now BAFTA keep up the momentum by announcing the nominations for the 2012 Video Game Awards. Batman: Arkham City and L.A. Noire come in strong but we’ve got the full list for you below.
Let us know in the comments section below which you want to win and what’s missing from the list.
Action
Assassin’s Creed Revelations - Martin Schelling, Darby McDevitt, Raphael Lacoste / Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft Batman: Arkham City – Jamie Walker, Sefton Hill, Adam Doherty / Rocksteady Studios/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – Development Team / Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games/Activision Blizzard Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Jean-Francois Dugas, Antoine Thisdale / Eidos Montreal/Ubisoft Portal 2 – Development Team / Valve/Valve Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception – Evan Wells, Christophe Balestra, Amy Henni g/Naughty Dog/Sony Computers Entertainment Europe
Artistic Achievement
Batman: Arkham City – Jamie Walker,...
Let us know in the comments section below which you want to win and what’s missing from the list.
Action
Assassin’s Creed Revelations - Martin Schelling, Darby McDevitt, Raphael Lacoste / Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft Batman: Arkham City – Jamie Walker, Sefton Hill, Adam Doherty / Rocksteady Studios/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – Development Team / Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games/Activision Blizzard Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Jean-Francois Dugas, Antoine Thisdale / Eidos Montreal/Ubisoft Portal 2 – Development Team / Valve/Valve Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception – Evan Wells, Christophe Balestra, Amy Henni g/Naughty Dog/Sony Computers Entertainment Europe
Artistic Achievement
Batman: Arkham City – Jamie Walker,...
- 2/16/2012
- by David Sztypuljak
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
When you say "Japanese film", your first word association is not likely to be comedy. But this movie pleasingly defies festival expectations. A madcap farce centering on the production of a radio drama, "Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald" is a frothy, "Soapdish" kind of lark. It's zany and fast-paced, with the frantic comic furor of some of Blake Edwards' high-octane mayhem.
While it's not likely to attract notice among mainstream audiences, this deliriously funny film was a hit with festival audiences at last year's Chicago International Film Festival. Cities with significant Asian-American populations could make this one an art house sleeper.
The comic craziness is set against the deadline atmosphere of a Tokyo radio station, where the production "team," including some voice-over artists, is putting on a live radio show. It's a swoony melodrama, much in the style of those golden oldies from American radio such as "Pepper Young" and "Stella Dallas". This scenario is especially drippy, the outcome of a dramatic contest sponsored by the station in which the single entrant, not surprisingly, was the grand-prize winner.
The script is stilted silly, but it's taken deadly seriously by its housewife-writer, a shy, deferential young woman, and it's regarded as high art by the assorted vocal players, each of whom only has one quibble with the script -- it doesn't pay proper justice to their particular character.
In short, the "team" is a wild and idiosyncratic group, from the obsequious producer to the prima donna female star. Included in the mix are a bitter security guard who was a former sound man and the writer's insecure, car-salesman husband. This mix of oddballs, not surprisingly, will ring true to anyone who has ever ventured near the entertainment industry.
Screenwriter-director Koki Mitani's eye for foibles is evident, and he wisely stokes the character clashes to their believable max. Undeniably, the narrative itself is generally predictable, but it's delivered with such speed and skill that the belly laughs overcome the unremarkable story line.
The players are a well-selected screwball group, including Kyoka Suzuki as the serious-minded writer and Toshiaki Karasawa as the cool-and-collected director. Keiko Toda is terrific as the lead actress, vainglorious and conniving.
Technical contributions are smartly realized, with special kudos to editor Hirohide Abe for the fast pacing.
WELCOME BACK, MR. MCDONALD
Lighthouse Entertainment/Group/Fortissima
Producers: Chiaka Matsushita, Hisao Masuda, Takashi Ishihara, Kanjiro Sakura
Screenwriter-director: Koki Mitani
Based on the play "Radio No Jikan" by Mitani and the Tokyo Sunshine Boys
Directors of photography: Kenji Takama, Junichi Tozawa
Editor: Hirohide Abe
Music: Takayuki Hattori
Sound mixer: Tetsuo Segawa
Art director: Tomio Ogawa
Color/stereo
Cast:
Kudo: Toshiaki Karasawa
Miyako Suzuki: Kyoka Suzuki
Ushijima: Masahiko Nishimura
Nokko Senbon: Keiko Toda
Ben Noda: Takehiko Ono
Suhuru Hosaka: Shiro Namiki
Furukawa: Yasukiyo Umeno
Hiromitsu: Jun Inoue
Running time -- 103 minutes
No MPAA rating...
While it's not likely to attract notice among mainstream audiences, this deliriously funny film was a hit with festival audiences at last year's Chicago International Film Festival. Cities with significant Asian-American populations could make this one an art house sleeper.
The comic craziness is set against the deadline atmosphere of a Tokyo radio station, where the production "team," including some voice-over artists, is putting on a live radio show. It's a swoony melodrama, much in the style of those golden oldies from American radio such as "Pepper Young" and "Stella Dallas". This scenario is especially drippy, the outcome of a dramatic contest sponsored by the station in which the single entrant, not surprisingly, was the grand-prize winner.
The script is stilted silly, but it's taken deadly seriously by its housewife-writer, a shy, deferential young woman, and it's regarded as high art by the assorted vocal players, each of whom only has one quibble with the script -- it doesn't pay proper justice to their particular character.
In short, the "team" is a wild and idiosyncratic group, from the obsequious producer to the prima donna female star. Included in the mix are a bitter security guard who was a former sound man and the writer's insecure, car-salesman husband. This mix of oddballs, not surprisingly, will ring true to anyone who has ever ventured near the entertainment industry.
Screenwriter-director Koki Mitani's eye for foibles is evident, and he wisely stokes the character clashes to their believable max. Undeniably, the narrative itself is generally predictable, but it's delivered with such speed and skill that the belly laughs overcome the unremarkable story line.
The players are a well-selected screwball group, including Kyoka Suzuki as the serious-minded writer and Toshiaki Karasawa as the cool-and-collected director. Keiko Toda is terrific as the lead actress, vainglorious and conniving.
Technical contributions are smartly realized, with special kudos to editor Hirohide Abe for the fast pacing.
WELCOME BACK, MR. MCDONALD
Lighthouse Entertainment/Group/Fortissima
Producers: Chiaka Matsushita, Hisao Masuda, Takashi Ishihara, Kanjiro Sakura
Screenwriter-director: Koki Mitani
Based on the play "Radio No Jikan" by Mitani and the Tokyo Sunshine Boys
Directors of photography: Kenji Takama, Junichi Tozawa
Editor: Hirohide Abe
Music: Takayuki Hattori
Sound mixer: Tetsuo Segawa
Art director: Tomio Ogawa
Color/stereo
Cast:
Kudo: Toshiaki Karasawa
Miyako Suzuki: Kyoka Suzuki
Ushijima: Masahiko Nishimura
Nokko Senbon: Keiko Toda
Ben Noda: Takehiko Ono
Suhuru Hosaka: Shiro Namiki
Furukawa: Yasukiyo Umeno
Hiromitsu: Jun Inoue
Running time -- 103 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 1/11/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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