Award-winning Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda is gearing up for a new project: his first Korean movie, with some of the best actors working in the industry. Let me tell you why you should be excited.
Hirokazu Kore-eda is one of the best Japanese filmmakers working today. A favourite of the Cannes Film Festival, his films have played in competition five times, with Like Father, Like Son and Shoplifter earning him the Jury Prize and Palme d’Or respectively. This alone should drum up excitement for his upcoming project. Kore-eda is widely regarded for his depictions of families, probing into both their complexities but also their warmth and compassion. This is why his next film looks to be a sure hit.
Rumoured to be titled Broker, the film is set to be a drama about people involved with “baby-boxes” – temperature-controlled containers for unwanted babies. It’s an interesting concept, and one likely to be done justice by the Japanese filmmaker, with his previous works often interrogating and exploring the role of families.
But if the director or concept still doesn’t have you excited for this film, maybe the cast will. According to the film’s distributor, CJ ENM, Broker will have an impressive selection of actors including Song Kang-ho, Bae Doo-na and Gang Dong-won. Song Kang-ho is the star of 2019’s Academy Award winner Parasite and frequent collaborator with everyone’s favourite director at the moment, Bong Joon-ho. Gang Dong-won is another widely regarded South Korean actor and is set to star in the sequel to 2016’s Train to Busan, Peninsula. Of the three, Bae Doo-na is the only one to work with Hirokazu Kore-eda before in 2009’s Airdoll, where Doo-na played the lead.
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Their reunion has been a long time in the making, as in a statement from the film’s distributor, Kore-eda stated: “Back in 2009, I promised Bae that ‘we would collaborate again, next time, as a human character’ and I have come to keep this promise after 10 years.” In that same statement, the director shared his excitement to work on this film and with these actors. “I feel my heart fluttering the most right now, as I am writing the script, moving around the three veteran actors inside my mind. I hope to make a film through which I could share this feeling – doleful, yet thrilling and heart-breaking at times.” According to CJ ENM, Kore-eda has been working on the upcoming script for Broker for the past five years.
Broker is set to start production in 2021.
Words by George Bell
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