We begin the competition with one of many Palme d’Or winners who are looking to possibly add a second or in the case of Ken Loach, a record-breaking third to the trophy case. Japanese master filmmaker Kore-eda Hirokazu is the first filmmaker out of the gate with Monster – his first film in his native language since 2018’s Shoplifters (he re-teams with cinematographer Ryuto Kondo). Sadly musical composer Ryuichi Sakamoto passed away earlier this year – so today acts as a little bit of a tribute to him and it’ll also be noteworthy for Kore-eda as he’ll celebrate back-to-back years in the comp after last year’s Broker. This is the filmmaker’s ninth trip to Cannes – the love affair began with this follows Distance (2001), Nobody Knows (2004), Air Doll (2009), Like Father, Like Son (2013), Our Little Sister (2015) and After the Storm in 2016.
Returning to the larger theme of the family unit but with genre trimmings and play with the timeline, starring Sakura Ando (she plays the single mother), Eita Nagayama (teacher), Soya Kurokawa (plays Minato, the son of the central mother character) and Hinata Hiiragi (Minato’s classmate) – when Minato starts to behave strangely, his mother feels that there is something wrong. Discovering that a teacher is responsible, she storms into the school demanding to know what’s going on. But as the story unfolds through the eyes of mother, teacher and child, the truth gradually emerges.
Current temperature: More than half our jury caught the first screenings for Kore-eda Hirokazu’s Monster today and we could say that we began with a bang — it was overwhelming admired with an average score of 3.2. We still have around eight more scores to combine but we should see the grades stay in this area.
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