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Evidently, Mikio Naruse is one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, and any comparison of his work with that of others, particularly contemporary directors, feels somewhat unfair. One can only marvel, however, at how economical “Sincerity” is, presenting a story full of nuance and both evident and subtle commentary in just 67 minutes. There are no unnecessary scenes, no attempts to impress, just a story that demands constant attention, as every moment holds significance. Let us take things from the beginning, though.

Sincerity is screening at Metrograph as part of the Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us program

The screenplay is based on a short story by Yojiro Ishizaka and is set in a small countryside town just before the war, as the school year comes to an end. Tomiko, the daughter of a single mother and of lower middle-class background, has been ranked the top pupil in her class,...

Every year one of the signposts that the Cannes Film Festival is nigh is the release of that edition’s official poster. The Cannes posters of the past have run the gamut, from the glorified tourism posters of the early years to some of the more witty, playful ones of recent vintage — such as Agnès Varda getting some height help by standing atop an assistant to look into her camera on her debut “La Pointe Courte” for the 2019 festival, or Spike Lee and his giant glasses peeping over the lower edge of the frame in 2021.

In their release of the 2024 festival poster, the organizers commented that each year’s poster “sets the tone” for the festival to come. Many of these in the past have been exuberant and full of the colorful possibilities of cinema. This one in 2024 sets a more muted tone, perhaps fitting for this festival set against a backdrop of horrific war.

The poster for the Cannes Film Festival’s 2024 edition (May 14-25) pays tribute to Akira Kurosawa’s film Rhapsody In August.

The film played out of competition at Cannes in 1991, and follows a grandmother who lost her husband to the Nagasaki bombing in 1945 and how three generations of her family respond to the tragedy. It stars Sachiko Murase as the grandmother, with Richard Gere also among the cast.

It was the penultimate film from the renowned Japanese filmmaker behind masterpieces such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Ikiru and Ran.

The festival said: “Mirroring the movie theatre, this poster celebrates the Seventh Art,...

The BFI has announced full details of its major celebration of one of the most influential filmmakers of all time, Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998), taking place across the UK during January and February 2023. Kurosawa, a two-month complete retrospective of 30 feature films at BFI Southbank, in partnership with the Japan Foundation, co-curated by film director Asif Kapadia and film author Ian Haydn Smith, launches on 1 January continuing until 28 February. On 6 January, BFI Distribution re-releases Kurosawa’s ground-breaking Rashomon (1950) in cinemas UK-wide; the film will also be available to watch on BFI Player. There will be a rare and one-off opportunity on 28 January to see masterpiece Seven Samurai (1954) on the biggest screen in the UK (65 feet high) at the newly refurbished BFI IMAX. A collection of 15 of the director’s films will be available on BFI Player subscription to enable UK-wide audiences to fully immerse themselves in Kurosawa’s world.

Kagemusha

Kurosawa curators...