Asia Major in the Eyes of Cannes

Following the announcement of the lineup for the 61^st Festival de Cannes, one thing stuck out to me: where are the Japanese films? A
year after Naomi Kawase took home the Grand Prix for The Mourning Forest, not a
single Japanese film was selected for the Palme D’or, despite new films by such
auteurs as Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Tokyo Sonata) and Hirokazu Koreeda (Still Walking),
both of whom have previously been up for the major award. Asian cinema in
general made out well with three films being selected for the Palme.

Socially conscious filmmaker Jia Zhangke returns to Cannes with 24 City,
representing the sole major Chinese film playing at the fest in any category. This
can be attributed primarily to China’s
stringent censorship laws, which notably flared up in 2006 when Lou Ye’s Summer
Palace screened in competition at the fest over objections by the Chinese
government (the film was subsequently banned in the country). Zhangke’s latest
continues his reflection on how China’s
rapid development is eroding its past. The story, spanning 50 years, focuses on
employees of a factory set to be demolished to make way for a skyscraper. The
director’s Unknown Pleasures screened in competition at the fest in 2002.

My Magic by Taiwanese director Eric Khoo marks his first invitation
to Cannes. The
follow up to his critically acclaimed 2005 drama Be With Me, the film follows a
real-life magician Francis Bosco as he tries to reconnect with his 14-year-old son
despite a language barrier. Khoo shot the film on a shoe-string budget in only
8 days this past December – talk about a return on investment!

Phillipine stalwart Brillante Mendoza, who’s Foster Child screened in the Director’s Fortnight last year, steps up into the main event with
Serbis rounding out the Asian flavor in the competition.

The city of Tokyo makes a
splash in the Un Certain Regard program with Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s highly buzzed
about Tokyo Sonata and the Bong/Gondry/Carax omnibus Tokyo! both vying for glory. Kurosawa
previously took home the FIPRESCI award in 2000 for Séance. On the non-Tokyo
front, Taiwan’s Tin Che and China’s Yi Ban Haishui, Yi Ban Huoyan round out the
Asian entries in the section.

Other Asian films screening at the fest are South Korea’s The Good, The Bad, And The Weird (Gala Premiere) and The Chaser (Midnight Screening), which has already been
picked up by Warner Brothers for a US remake. Cannes’ favorite son Wong Kar-Wai will also
make an appearance with the long-awaited recut of his seminal wushu epic Ashes
of Time.