Suzaku
Japan
|
1997
|
Color
|
95 min
In a remote village in the Japanese mountains, marked by depopulation and economic hardship, Kozo struggles daily to support his family: his elderly mother, his wife, his daughter, and his young nephew, abandoned by a sister who decided to leave him behind. In this harsh and isolated environment, where survival dictates every daily action, life unfolds amidst resignation, sacrifice, and family ties that resist abandonment. This was the first fiction feature film by Japanese filmmaker Naomi Kawase, made with non-professional actors —except for Jun Kunimura in the lead role— and awarded the Caméra d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Technical Details
Direction:
Naomi Kawase
Cinematography:
Masaki Tamura
Language:
Japanese
Production:
Koji Kobayashi, Ryôichi Kondô
Sound:
Osamu Takizawa
Subtitles:
Spanish
Screenplay:
Naomi Kawase
Editing:
Shūichi Kakesu
Cast:
Jun Kunimura, Machiko Ono, Sachiko Izumi, Kôtarô Shibata
Director
Naomi Kawase
Born and raised in Japan's Nara Prefecture, Naomi Kawase graduated in Visual Arts in Osaka in 1989, beginning a cinematic career deeply marked by memory, intimacy, and the observation of human connections. Her early documentary works, Embracing and Katatsumori, garnered international recognition and awards at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival in 1995, establishing her unique authorial voice within contemporary Japanese cinema from an early stage. In 1997, she debuted her fiction feature film Suzaku, becoming the youngest filmmaker to receive the Caméra d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Since then, her relationship with the French festival has been constant and distinguished: in 2007, she won the Grand Prix du Jury for The Mourning Forest, and in 2009, she was awarded the Carrosse d’Or at Cannes.
