2015 Cannes Critics’ Panel Day 2: Kore-eda Needs No Introductions with “Our Little Sister”

The race for the Palme d’Or officially begins today. It’s day 2 at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival which means the press core and as per usual, our Cannes Critics’ Panel are already in game mode. New this year to the our sweet sixteen group (you can follow them all on twitter) areMarc-André Lussier (La Presse), Jean-Philippe Guerand (Le Film Français), Aaron Hillis (the proprietor of Video Free Brooklyn who needs no introduction — penning for Filmmaker Magazine & VICE), and joining IONCINEMA.com stalwarts Nicholas Bell and Blake Williams we find Yama Rahimi. Looks for grades on all nineteen Main Comp offerings plus as added bonus: Gaspar Noé’s Love.

The first film to uncork the ’15 edition is a filmmaker who is technically more synonymous with the Toronto Int. Film Festival than the French riviera. This nonetheless marks Hirokazu Kore-eda‘s fifth trip to Cannes with his last picture Like Father, Like Son winning a Jury Prize in 2013. The Japanese filmmaker commenced production on Our Little Sister back in July of 2014 and it counts as the helmer’s fourth Main Comp entry following Distance (2001) and Nobody Knows (2004). His trippy sex doll romance Air Doll was selected for the Un Certain Regard in 2009.

Following the rhythms, beats of his more recent mellower family dramas, there appears to be an air of familiarity title with an audience pleaser that Nicholas Bell describes as “the latent ramifications of past events still being processed.” For the most part, our sampling of critics agree with the Croisette consensus.

Check back with us twice daily for the latest grades and make sure to click on the grid below for a larger version.