"Ai to Makoto" to screen at the Cannes
24 Apr – Japanese director Takashi Miike has been exclusively invited to screen his latest movie "Ai to Makoto" at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival.
According to Tokyo Hive, "Ai to Makoto" would be part of the midnight screenings in the international film festival that is held in the French city from 16 May to 27 May, ahead of its Japanese release date on 16 June.
This is Takashi's second consecutive film to be screened at the film festival, when he went there in the previous year with his 3D film "Ichimei", starring Ichikawa Ebizou and Eita.
However, this time around, Takashi is a little worried that his latest would not be easily accepted by the international audience at the Cannes.
"I believe I made a movie only the Japanese can make. It would be great if the guests at Cannes could enjoy this movie," said the 51-year-old director.
"Ai to Makoto" is Takashi's adaptation of a romance manga by Kajiwara Ikki from the 1970s, which has been previously adapted into live action three times. The story centres on a school delinquent, Taiga Makoto, and his romance with an innocent school girl, Saotome Ai. There are dance and musical scenes in the movie that are produced by Kobayashi Takeshi.
The movie has been receiving mixed reactions from the Japanese press, with one end extolling it while others had criticised it for its nonsensical developments.
"It's a movie that pretends to be a stupid movie from beginning to end," Miike commented about his new film during a recent promotional event, who had doubted that he would be invited to the Cannes with this film.
Lead actor Tsumabuki Satoshi, who stars alongside Takei Emi, hopes that it would be able to deliver a message to the international audience at the Cannes.
"It would be great if we can convey a message that there are people in Japan who are trying out interesting endeavors," he said, after making several embarrassing blunders at promotional events for the movie, even saying that it was 'messed up'.
