Expect a ‘Miracle’ from Hirokazu Kore-eda in 2011

Thanks to a tweet from a certain head programmer from TIFF, we now have an official update on the “Untitled Bullet Train Project” project that Hirokazu Kore-eda had mentioned to us back when he was promoting Air Doll. Film News Asia confirms that Kiseki (Miracle), currently in production, stars real-life, pint-sized brothers Koki and Oshiro Maeda, along with vet Kirin Kiki (from Kore-eda’s Still Walking) and popular Joe Odagiri from Air Doll (the helmer’s last title which oddly still doesn’t have a North American distributor). 

Gist: This is a story of two young brothers who live in different cities but thanks to the newly built bullet-train line dream of reuniting their family.

Worth Noting: Kore-eda told us that he was envisioning the project with five or six children, but we think this might have dwindled down to the pair of “estranged” siblings. He also mentioned, “once I cast the children, then I will get more ideas from them. Once again it’s an interactive process”.

Why Do We Care?: If not the best, he is among the top Japanese auteur filmmakers of the past decade and a half. The last time he worked with children, he gave us the cruel, yet fascinating portrait of abandonment known as Nobody Knows. We thought Air Doll was a strong film and still haven’t forgotten about Still Walking. Since this is being pegged as a possible Cannes item, this will be high up on our, and IFC Films radar.