Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2022: #69. Koji Fukada’s Love Life

Love Life

Just a couple of weeks back we saw Japan’s Koji Fukada name attached to a market project going by the title of Love on Trial. Is this project and Love Life one of the same? After a 2020 that saw the helmer work in the short form with a three film output, production on Love Life (inspired by a song by Japanese artist Akiko Yano and the consequences of the pandemic) would have began in September of 2021 with some French production money. We know Fukada best from a string of popular film fest items in Sayonara (2015), Harmonium (2016), The Man from the Sea (2018), A Girl Missing (read the review) and finally The Real Thing (2020).

Gist: Taeko leads a peaceful life with her husband, Jiro, whom she remarried a year ago, and her 6-year-old son, Keita. One day, Keita dies in an accident at a party. Taeko, who is unable to recover from her sadness, experiences a breakup with her husband, who does not seem to share his feelings. At the funeral, Sangsoo, Keita’s biological father suddenly reappears after Taeko has heard nothing from him …

Release Date/Prediction: If this actually went into production back in the fall, then we’d expect a Locarno drop.