Ryusuke Hamaguchi heading to France for next project

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Drive My Car and Evil Does Not Exist director Ryusuke Hamaguchi is heading west for a French-Japanese co-production.


When Ryusuke Hamaguchiā€™s Drive My Car (pictured) won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film in 2021, it ensured that the Japanese directorā€™s next film would be on the radar of a much larger audience. That film, Evil Does Not Exist, released in 2023 to further acclaim, telling the story of a father and daughter whose Japanese village becomes the target for a new camping site. The film didnā€™t travel quite as widely as its predecessor, but those who did see it ā€“ including our own James Harvey ā€“ were left spellbound.

This year will see Hamaguchiā€™s next project move into gear, and thanks to World Of Reel, we have a few details about it. Titled Our Apprenticeship, the events focus ā€˜on a Japanese girl studying in Paris.ā€™ Thatā€™s all we have to go on in terms of plot, but we do know that production is set to begin imminently, so thereā€™s a chance weā€™ll see this film arrive this year.

Read more: Evil Does Not Exist review | A beautiful, deceptively furious ode to the environment

France is, of course, home to one of cinemaā€™s most prodigious waves of filmmaking talent, and the country has always displayed a great reverence for auteur filmmakers. Hamaguchi surely falls within that bracket, and so itā€™s no surprise that heā€™s opted to work in such a filmmaker-friendly climate. Franceā€™s system of tax breaks and grants for productions located in its borders will surely make the project more financially feasible.

Hamaguchiā€™s films arenā€™t always the most high-profile, they can be sought out, and weā€™d imagine that Our Apprenticeship will see the inside of some UK cinemas when it eventually emerges, even if you have to cast your net a little wider to find it playing on your locality.

Weā€™ll bring you more on this on Our Apprenticeship as we get it, although it will likely be in the latter half of this year.

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