Moving between absurdity and melodrama, Played from a historical perspective, Hirokazu Kore-eda condemns lack of communication and prejudice. that reign in Japanese society. Japanese director, known (and recognized) for films likeAfterlife‘ (1998) or ‘Family guess‘ (2018), estren la cinta que winner of the Cannes Film Festival, for which she received the Palma Queer Award and the Mejor Guion Award. When Saori (Sakura Ando) learns that her son (Soya Kurokawa) is having trouble studying in college, she begins to… an investigation that will reveal several stories sorrow.
The latest result is Queer Palma.
After filming’Brokerand the series “Makanai: cocinera de las maiko” for Netflix, Japanese director the home of one of its masters and the greatest exponent of Japanese cinema in the West: Akira Kurosawa.. If in Rashomon (1950) the same action took place from different angles, then it is the same here. That’s right, in a much more impressive form for the viewer. In this case, There are three versions of the story that won the Strange Palm at Cannes.recommended for outstanding work in the category LGBTI cinemalike the award winnersCarol‘ or ‘Portrait of a woman in lamas‘. Ademas, “Monstruo” suggests the last score of the famous composer Ryuichi Sakamoto.
Sakamoto, failed in March 2023., was a multi-talented artist and the composer of many of the tunes we know today. Entre ellas, film soundtrackEl Renacido(Iñárritu, 2015) starring a frozen Leonardo DiCaprio. Moreover, the composer not only wrote the musicFeliz Navidad, Mr. Lawrence(for which he won a BAFTA in 1983) until he also starred. next to the same David Bowie. It’s late, ganaria “Oscar” and “Grammy” for the soundtrack to the film “El último emperador”. (1987), directed by Bertolucci, before he began making video game music. Now listen to the final score below Kore-eda’s beat. Let’s talk to the director from “Monstruo”.
“Monstruo” approaches lakras of non-communication. Do you think this is a particular problem for a Japanese company?
In fact, this problem affects all of humanity. I started working on Project Monster in 2018, before Covid, and my impression was that the pandemic had exacerbated the problem of disconnection, as well as other social divisions, on a global level.
In Monstruo, changes in the story’s perspective reveal different aspects of human drama in the spirit of Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon (1950).
I have never worked with such relationships. I would say that the play of perspectives makes the structure of the film stronger. The story consisted of the first two parts of the story to reveal the essence of the conflict that affects Minato, the young protagonist of the story. I’m a big fan of Kurosawa, but I would argue that Monstruo goes beyond the referent of Rashomon and expands its discussion as a combination of contemporary social themes.
Your films at one time or another take you back to your childhood.
In Monstruo, I was interested in exploring the situation. bullying gender advantages are noted. But conflicts of this type do not only occur in the context of childhood. In the film, we see adult characters telling various children that they should be “normal,” that they should be “hombres.” This conservative and reversible vision extends to all areas of society. For my part, with “Monstruo,” I also want to illustrate the ability of children to break the arrogant plates of adults.
“Monstruo” also plays with changes in tones, has very melodramatic moments and other extraneous, absurd, slightly comical ones.
Sometimes the same situation can be interpreted differently depending on the distance from which we look at it. The most tragic thing, if you look at it, can reveal a comic dimension.
How was it working with the dirty Ryuichi Sakamoto on the soundtrack for Monstroo?
For the Japanese, Sakamoto was a great star back when he played in the Yellow Magic Orchestra. Obviously I’m an example of film music, but I also really value activism, especially in an environmental context. For ten years we were on the verge of working together on a project that never came up quickly, and with Monstruo we did not consider any other possibility that we would not work with it because our health was very unstable. .
Professional film critic, festival journalist thanks to Fotogramas, ESCAC professor, fan of Manny Farber (the bravest of critics), fan of Yasujiro Ozu and John Cassavetes, empedernido culé, lover of Laura and father of Gala and Pau.
Inspired by music and cinema, he went from Vigo to Madrid to study periodism and audiovisual communication at the Carlos III University. Find out the legend that you would rather skip class to go to someone else, even if you ask yourself, you will deny it.
He joined the editorial staff of Fotogramas as a practicing professional after entering the period of music and cinema, collaborating in media such as Milana magazine. He has interviewed personalities such as Jonas Trueba or Irene Escolar and is most appreciated as a guitarist. Lives in love with Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Nora Ephron. If you don’t know, this is exactly what a Kurosawa film would look like. Same thing when you leave it.