Drive My Car and Evil Does Not Exist director Ryusuke Hamaguchi is heading west for a French-Japanese co-production.
When Ryusuke Hamaguchiās Drive My Car (pictured) won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film in 2021, it ensured that the Japanese directorās 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 didnāt 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 Hamaguchiās next project move into gear, and thanks to World Of Reel, we have a few details about it. Titled Our Apprenticeship, the events focus āon a Japanese girl studying in Paris.ā Thatās all we have to go on in terms of plot, but we do know that production is set to begin imminently, so thereās a chance weāll 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 cinemaās 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 itās no surprise that heās opted to work in such a filmmaker-friendly climate. Franceās system of tax breaks and grants for productions located in its borders will surely make the project more financially feasible.
Hamaguchiās films arenāt always the most high-profile, they can be sought out, and weād 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.
Weāll bring you more on this on Our Apprenticeship as we get it, although it will likely be in the latter half of this year.