Composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, ‘Shoplifters’ Star Sakura Ando Join Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s ‘Monster’

Ira Sachs prefers relationships of the doomed variety — tempestuous passions torn asunder, sometimes by external forces like capitalism, which complicated the search for a home through New York’s cutthroat real estate market in “Love Is Strange” and “Little Men.” His latest film — the sexy, frustrating, loose-yet-compact, altogether irresistible three-hander “Passages” — also concerns property contracts and a homeless protagonist. However, this one’s got nobody but himself to blame for that predicament, fluent as he is in the same toxic strain of amour fou that previously perfumed the air in “Keep the Lights On” and especially Sachs’ debut, “The Delta.” As in that film — also pitched at the admirably humble quotidian scale Sachs hasn’t felt the need to exceed in more than a quarter decade — “Passages” follows a bisexual chaos agent so wrapped up in his own narcissism that he can’t see where his self-exploration ends and insensitivity to those around him begins.

Berlinale artistic director Carlo Chatrian and executive director Mariëtte Rissenbeck reveal the festival’s main Competition and Encounters selections at a press conference on Monday, January 23, as they gear up for their first fully in-person edition since 2020 from February 16 to 26.

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr and NBA star Stephen Curry were the latest entertainment and sports celebrities to make an appearance at the White House daily briefing, this time to give brief remarks on gun violence prevention and the recent release of Brittney Griner.

At least 40 people have died after a plane carrying 72 people has crash landed near Pokhara International Airport, Nepal, in the early hours of this morning. The daily Kathmandu Post newspaper reported there was 68 passengers and four crew members aboard, quoting a spokesperson for Yeti Airlines.

“You must show what’s unseen, but you cannot show too much either,” Mother Chiyo (Keiko Matsuzaka) explains to apprentice maiko Sumire (Natsuki Deguchi) about the delicate balance of expressing the story of a traditional mai dance. This same ethos permeates throughout the soft tone of the new Netflix series “The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House,” from acclaimed filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda.

“You must show what’s unseen, but you cannot show too much either,” Mother Chiyo (Keiko Matsuzaka) explains to apprentice maiko Sumire (Natsuki Deguchi) about the delicate balance of expressing the story of a traditional mai dance. This same ethos permeates throughout the soft tone of the new Netflix series “The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House,” from acclaimed filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda.

EXCLUSIVE: Ghosts standout Danielle Pinnock has landed a supporting role alongside Eddie Murphy and Tracee Ellis Ross in the holiday comedy Candy Cane Lane from Prime Video.

EXCLUSIVE: Berlin-based documentary sales specialist Rise and Shine has boarded Ukrainian director Roman Liubyi’s work Iron Butterflies ahead of its world debut in Sundance (Jan 19-29), followed by its European premiere in Berlin.

Cannes Palme d’Or-winning director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s first series for Netflix, The Makanai: Cooking For The Maiko House, is based on a best-selling manga about two young girls who move to Kyoto to start their training as ‘maiko’ or apprentice geisha. 

The Oscars declined to give a platform to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last year, but the Golden Globes made up for it tonight, offering him an opportunity to speak directly to an American and world audience.

Former child star Adam Rich has reportedly died. He was 54.

Getting cryptic. Whitney Rose shared a reflective message about the end of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City season 3 that has Us wondering if she’s shading costar Jen Shah’s legal troubles.

Globally renowned for his patient, observational style and intimate attention to the lives of outsiders, Kore-eda Hirokazu has spent decades interrogating the nature of family bonds and their moral configurations, often examining the everyday lives of civilians in his native Japan while lingering on those who exist outside its status quo. His cinema is distinguished by its calm yet compassionate insight, looking past perceived social norms to illuminate the messier realities of family in a society that still conforms such relations to bloodline, age, gender, and class status — despite the inability of such traditional mores to measure the true health of a family unit.  Kore-eda’s latest film, “Broker,” is the first he’s made in South Korea, furthering the director’s travels abroad after his 2020 French melodrama “The Truth.

Is Hirokazu Kore-Eda eyeing a Cannes 2023 world premiere for his upcoming film “Monster“? It looks that way, as he’s already in post-production for the film, slated for a June 2 theatrical release in his native Japan. And as work on the film continues, more news on Kore-Eda’s collaborators breaks.

Is Hirokazu Kore-Eda eyeing a Cannes 2023 world premiere for his upcoming film “Monster“? It looks that way, as he’s already in post-production for the film, slated for a June 2 theatrical release in his native Japan. And as work on the film continues, more news on Kore-Eda’s collaborators breaks.

Douglas Ross has branded a Holyrood debate on Scottish independence as "completely bonkers".

The Sundance Film Festival has announced further additions to its lineup for 2023, including five more features that will there make their world premieres, and four award-winners from years past to receive encore special screenings.