MK2 Films has boarded “Roca,” the brand new function from acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Koji Fukada, whose newest movie, “Nagi Note,” premiered in competitors at Cannes Wednesday.
Tailored from a manga by Hisaichi Ishii (“My Neighbors the Yamadas”), “Roca” follows youngsters Roca, an aspiring fado singer, and Mino, the daughter of a small-time yakuza, who develop a detailed connection. However as Roca’s musical ambitions start to take form, Mino’s more and more harmful actions threaten to tug them aside, forcing Roca to decide on between her future and the one that has at all times protected her.
Mixing comedy and music, “Roca” will showcase a shift in tone for Fukada whereas carrying themes of loneliness and human connection explored in his previous movies. The function additionally marks the sixth collaboration between Fukada and the Paris-based gross sales firm, following “Nagi Notes,” “Love on Trial,” which premiered at Cannes final yr, “Love Life,” which competed at Venice in 2022, “Harmonium,” winner of Cannes’s Un Sure Regard Prize and “A Girl Missing,” which performed at Locarno and Toronto. “Roca” is produced by TBS and Comme des Cinémas.
MK2 Movies boasts a robust presence as soon as once more at this yr’s Cannes with 11 options throughout the official choice, together with 5 in competitors: Marie Kreutzer’s “Gentle Monster,” Léa Mysius’ “The Birthday Party,” Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Minotaur,” Ira Sachs’ “The Man I Love” and “Nagi Notes.”
The latter is about within the bucolic city of Nagi, the place Yoriko, a sculptor, resides within the shadow of a previous love that continues to form her artwork. Selection gave the movie a glowing overview. “‘Nagi Notes’ happily sees the director returning to the form of his 2016 breakout “Harmonium,” with the precision of its characterization and the stability between heartfelt emotional candor and pensive silence in its finely labored script,” Guy Lodge wrote in his review.
In an interview with Variety, Fukada mentioned the mission originated in 2017 when playwright Oriza Hirata invited him to adapt his 1994 play “Tokyo Notes” and beneficial Nagi Museum of Up to date Artwork because the potential movie set.
