Hirokazu Koreeda comments on the state of Japanese cinema
Hirokazu Koreeda is among the leading pioneers of world cinema, known for creating unforgettable masterpieces such as After Life and Nobody Knows. Recently, he returned to the landscape of contemporary cinema with Broker, which was his first Korean-language film.
One of the year’s most acclaimed films, Broker has Koreeda’s characteristic humanism. It tells the story of a group of societal rejects who come together to form a bizarre family unit, constantly fighting off the conformism imposed by social structures.
While talking about the future of Japanese cinema, Koreeda cited the likes of Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Kōji Fukada as the next torchbearers. He said: “I am very pleased to see this new generation of Japanese directors grow and become successful. For me it is an amazing thing.”
However, he also pointed out the problems with the industry. “If we want to find some kind of fault as well within this success, one has to mention that this visibility is not mirrored in the Japanese industry,” he noted. “On the contrary, there is a rift. The Japanese movie industry up until now has been closed off.”
The director added: “As the population decreases, the demand for new movies decreases as well. There are several issues on a local level that, at the moment, are being ignored. This leads to a two-faced element. And that’s how we end up with a deep rift between the artistic evolution in cinematography and stagnation in the industry itself.”
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