Monday, May 25, 2009

The 62nd Cannes Film Festival wraps up and Japan goes home empty-handed

by Chris MaGee

Well, the 62nd Annual Cannes Film Festival wrapped yesterday with Austrian director Michael Haneke's "The White Ribbon" winning the coveted Palm d'Or, while Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos' film "Dogtooth" took home the Une Certain Regard Prize. Japan, sadly, went home empty-handed. The mostly positive buzz for Hirokazu Kore-eda's "Air Doll" didn't translate into any awards, and films set in the Japanese capital like Isabel Coixet's "Map of the Sounds of Tokyo" starring Rinko Kikuchi and Sergi López (pictured with the director above), and French director Gasper Noé's "Enter the Void" captured audiences imaginations, but not any trophies. Ah well...

We'll leave you with a very cool and very grim teaser trailer for "Enter the Void" that follows Oscar, an American drug dealer, played by Nathaniel Brown, from the underbelly of Tokyo and on into the afterlife. Thanks to Variety Japan for the above image.

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