Legendary Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto has signed on to write the music for upcoming feature film Monster (“Monster”) from Palme d’Or-winning director Hirokazu Kore-eda, Tokyo – Production Company Gaga Corporation revealed on Thursday.
Producers say Sakamoto will provide new compositions for the film, as well as some of his pre-existing music. Musically erudite Sakamoto makes his movie debut with Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1987) iconic score , starring David Bowie. He later won an Oscar for his music for Bernardo Bertolucci The Last Emperor (1987), And was nominated for a Golden Globe for his composition Alejandro Inarritu The Revenant (2015). The collaboration with Kore-eda marks his first time working on a high-profile Japanese game in a while.
Yokai is also Hirokazu Kore-eda’s first Japanese film after winning the Cannes Palme d’Or 2019 and Pickpockets . It follows the director’s French film The Truth which opened the Venice Film Festival at 2019 and his Korean title Broker, released earlier this year.
Monster story details are being kept under wraps for now, but Gaga revealed on Thursday that Sakura Ando, Shoplifters ‘s rising star will lead the cast of the new movie. Other actors include Eita Nagayama ( Hokusai ), Mitsuki Takahata ( Japanese Girls Never Die ), Akihiro Kakuda ( Spring Has Come), Shido Nakamura (Twisted Justice), Yuko Tanaka (Midnight Diner) and Child Actors Kurokawa Soya and Hiiragi Hinata.
Currently in post-production, Monster will be released in Japan on June 2, . The date was set for the film’s world premiere in Cannes in May, where Hirokazu Kore-eda was a regular.
Monster is the second film directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda after Maborosi and he did not write it himself movie, it premiered at the Venice Film Festival as early as 2018. The new movie is written by Yuji Sakamoto, the creator of the hit Japanese TV series Writer of )Mother, Woman and Marrimonial Chaos. Prolific writer and director Motoki Kawamura, whose directorial work Hyakuka recently won Best Director at the San Sebastián Film Festival, along with Monster Its main producer.
