FRANCE: Only Japanese film in competetion at Cannes , "Mogari No Mori", talks of love, loss, and the generation gap

Record ID: 741825

  • Title: FRANCE: Only Japanese film in competetion at Cannes , "Mogari No Mori", talks of love, loss, and the generation gap
  • Date: 28th May 2007
  • Summary: CANNES, FRANCE (MAY 26, 2007) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) DIRECTOR NAOMI KAWASE, SAYING "I think it's very important because it influences the film very deeply. The fact that this actor is not a professional actor brings it a reality that no actor can bring to the film. If it had been a famous actor, you could feel it in the film, but with a non-professional actor it brings reality and freshness , same goes for the professional carers. Both bring a reality that you could otherwise never achieve.
  • Embargoed: 12th June 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVAAKPTSJBJ3URUZPYEGHW36198Y
  • Story Text: Japanese director Naomi Kawase's "Mogari No Mori" ("The Mourning Forest") got it's formal red carpet premiere on Saturday (May 26).
    A poetic meditation on grieving and loss by Japanese director Naomi Kawase, it is shot in near-documentary style, and portrays the relationship between an old man still mourning his long-dead wife and a young assistant in his rural nursing home who is struggling with a loss of her own.
    The old man, played by non-professional actor Uda Shigeki and the young assistant Machiko, played by Machiko Ono, are forced to spend a gruelling night lost in the forest but the film ends on a note of near-religious hope and transcendence.
    Talking to Reuters Television, director Naomi Kawase said she was proud to represent the only Japanese movie in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
    "I'm very proud and happy to be here. It's a unique experience because it's the 60th anniversary. Everytime I come back everybody welcomes me back home so I'm going to try and do my best so that I have a good, happy movie" she said, adding that this film was close to her heart:
    "It's true that the beginning of my films is always very personal , but how the film develops is not necessarily personal, it develops along its own line. But it's true that this film started with my great-aunt who brought me up, she suffered from senile dementia, and you can see that this influenced this film all the way through."
    Kawase used professional carers to 'play' carers in her movie as well as non-professional actor Shigehi Uda as main actor. Kawase said, this decision lent the film a reality that would have been more difficult to achieve with a famous actor:
    "I think it's very important because it influences the film very deeply. The fact that this actor is not a professional actor brings it a reality that no actor can bring to the film. If it had been a famous actor, you could feel it in the film, but with a non-professional actor it brings reality and freshness , same goes for the professional carers. Both bring a reality that you could otherwise never achieve.
    The follows several other films in the festival that have examined loss and mourning, including South Korean director Lee Chang-dong's "Secret Sunshine", the Romanian film "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 days" and Russia's "The Banishment".
    The Cannes Film Festival concludes on Sunday, May 27 with the Palme' D'Or.
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