Details of ‘Monster’: Yuji Sakamoto and Hirokazu Koreeda’s Upcoming Movie
- Nailatuzzahro'
- Mar 19, 2023
- 2 min read
Monster is a collaboration result of a stellar Japanese writer, director, actor, and composer, becoming one of the most anticipated movies in 2023.
Written by Yuji Sakamoto, Monster is the first movie that Hirokazu Koreeda did not write himself since his 1995 Venice Film Festival-winning movie, Maborosi (Yoshihisa Ogita scripted it based on Maboroshi no Hikari, a novel by Teru Miyamoto). Koreeda is a regular at the Cannes Film Festival, where his most recent participation was at last year's premiere of his all-Korean features movie, Broker. Monster marks his return to Japanese features filmmaking. Meanwhile, Sakamoto is a veteran screenwriter known for his hit TV series, including Mother (2010), Quartet (2017), and We Made a Beautiful Bouquet (2021).
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gaga Corporation revealed on November 29 last year that legendary composer Ryuichi Sakamoto joined Monster, participating by composing new music and featuring his previous ones. Sakamoto's debut as a movie composer was in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), and he became the first Japanese composer to win Best Original Score at the 1987 Oscars with The Last Emperor. Furthermore, Gaga also mentioned that Shoplifters (2018) star, Sakura Ando, will be cast as the lead in Monster. This movie also stars Nagayama Eita, Mitsuki Takahata, Akihiro Kakuta, Shido Nakamura, Yuko Tanaka, and child actors Soya Kurokawa and Hinata Hiiragi.
Genki Kawamura is the lead producer of Monster, along with Kenji Yamada. Famed a leading producer, he made his directorial debut in A Hundred Flowers and won best director at the 2022 San Sebastián Film Festival. His box office anime movie, Shinkai Makoto's Suzume, is currently showing in many countries, including Indonesia. He previously worked with Koreeda on Netflix's original series The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House, which premiered on January 12 this year. While Monster is Koreeda's second collaboration with Ando and Kawamura, it tags his first joint effort with Yuji Sakamoto and Ryuichi Sakamoto.
Monster is the work of renowned movie industry players. That is why it is one of 2023 highly anticipated movies and is hailed for its potential premiere at Cannes in May.
Under the auspices of the production studios Gaga, Toho, Fuji Television Network, AOI Pro., and Bun-Buku, Monster will release on June 2 in Japan. As for distribution, Gaga will take hold of sales in Asian territories, and Wild Bunch Corporation will carry sales worldwide, exclusive of Asia. The two companies previously collaborated to distribute Koreeda's I Wish (2011), for which Koreeda won Best Director and Best Screenplay for the umpteenth time.
Being in post-production since the second half of last year, many have been wondering how the outline of Monster's story will be as it is still being concealed. However, the 30-second teaser below may liven up the picture of this movie for every fan's mind.
Comments