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Yuumi Kawai, born on December 19, 2000, in Tokyo, Japan, is a prominent actress and model. She began her acting career in 2019 with the TV drama “Inhand” and made her film debut in 2020’s “A Beloved Wife.” In 2021, her performances in “It’s a Summer Film!” and “A Balance” garnered critical acclaim, earning her several awards, including Best Newcomer at the 43rd Yokohama Film Festival and Best New Actor at the 35th Takasaki Film Festival.

Although her prowess was evident essentially from the beginning of her career, 2024 was the year that catapulted her to stardom. Having played in 11 different titles, both TV and movies, she also had a huge impact with her starring roles in “Desert of Namimbia”, “She Taught Me Serendipity” and “A Girl Named Ann“, with the latter recently netting her a Japanese Academy Award for Best Actress. That the roles she plays are also quite different from each other highlight her range,...

Adapted from Min Jin Lee’s novel, the sprawling Apple TV+ drama “Pachinko” — about a Korean family’s plight living in Japan and the challenges they endure across generations — weaves between past and present timelines, unfolding a complicated multilingual tale of resilience, identity and generational trauma. “Pachinko” editor Susan E. Kim, who is Korean American, was deeply connected to the material, which helped inform the editing process.

“Whenever I approach anything as an editor, I am drawn to how things are impacting me emotionally,” she said. “It’s the believability, the authenticity within the specific language of [the] project. Through the process of assembling and refining the edit, you’re tracking different kinds of information within the larger scope of the story, making sure the information is being planted in the right ways at the right times.”

“Pachinko’s” emotionally fraught Season 2 finale was, in many ways, two years in the...

Following a number of animation shorts, Shiika Okada came up with a live action feature in 2023, which explores the place of women in Japanese society, by focusing on the life of a girl from her high school days until her early 30s.

Kisspeptin Chronicles is screening at Five Flavours

In that fashion, the story begins at Shigusa’s cram school, where she asks a classmate to be her boyfriend, and he agrees, but only if they keep the whole thing secret. At the same time, one of her professors is essentially flirting with her, although the kind-hearted Shigusa does not seem to realize what is happening exactly. In her university days as an art student, she is dating an aspiring director/performance artist, Shota, who soon proves to be quite self-centered if not spiteful. It is then that the protagonist, now called Yagu by her friends, decides to use her...

The Marrakech Film Festival unveiled its 2024 lineup on Thursday and set that Luca Guadagnino would replace Thomas Vinterberg as its jury president. The other jury members will be Andrew Garfield, Jacob Elordi, Virginie Efira, and Ali Abbasi. Vinterberg “had to excuse himself for family reasons,” festival organizers said.

The Marrakech fest on Thursday also unveiled the lineup for its competition, 11th Continent, and Moroccan Panorama sections, as well as gala and special screenings. In the competition, 14 films will compete for the Étoile d’Or, or Golden Star.

The 21st edition of the fest in Morocco will also honor Sean Penn, David Cronenberg and, posthumously, pay homage to Moroccan star Naïma Elmcherqui. The Marrakech fest takes place Nov. 29-Dec. 7.

Check out the full lineup for the 2024 edition below.

Competition

Across The Sea (LA Mer Au Loin)

by Saïd Hamich Benlarbi / France, Morocco, Belgium

with Ayoub Gretaa, Anna Mouglalis, Grégoire Colin, Omar Boulakirba,...

[This story contains major spoilers from the season two finale of Pachinko, “Chapter Sixteen.”]

For two seasons of Pachinko, Apple TV+’s series adaptation of Min Jin Lee’s novel about four generations of a Korean family living during and after Japanese rule, protagonist Sunja (Minha Kim) has wrestled with a devastating secret: The man who fathered her first child, Noa (Tae Ju Kang), is not Isak (Steve Sanghyun Noh), the sickly, late pastor whom she married shortly after becoming pregnant — but, rather, Hansu (Lee Minho), her wealthy first love who has ties to organized crime.

“Sunja, in some ways, can come off as such a fairytale character. It seems like she’s always good, like she always makes the right decision,” creator and showrunner Soo Hugh tells The Hollywood Reporter. “And yet, when you actually drill down into what she does in this show, she doesn’t always make the right decisions. For example, was it right of her not...

The second season of the Apple TV+ drama series “Pachinko” ended with powerful emotional moments and unresolved plot lines that could continue into future seasons. Based on the bestselling novel by Min Jin Lee, the show follows a Korean family across four generations through personal stories set against historical events in Korea and Japan.

A major revelation shook the core of the main character, Noa, portrayed by Kang Tae Ju. His girlfriend Akiko, played by Kilala Inori, told him the shocking truth: “Noa, Hansu is your father.” Learning this news that Hansu, played by Lee Minho, was his biological father and not the man he thought, Noa confronted Hansu. He also met devastated with his mother Sunja, portrayed by Youn Yuh-jung in the present and Minha Kim in the past.

This dramatic scene took an emotional toll on Kang Tae Ju to film. Showrunner Soo Hugh said Kang had to...

Spoiler Alert: This post contains spoilers for the Pachinko Season 2 finale.

Pachinko is both sprawling epic and emotional rollercoaster – and nothing captures that better than the season 2 finale that just dropped on Apple TV+. The series follows a Korean family across four generations and takes in historical events and family drama as the resolute Sunja moves from her home country to Japan.

When, in the season closer, Noa’s privileged university girlfriend Akiko (Kilala Inori), utters the line that changes his life — “Noa, Hansu is your father” — his violent reaction sets the scene for a showdown with his biological father, and a climactic meeting with Sunja, his mother.

“Kang Tae Ju (Noa) is just an extraordinary actor and that was actually a really hard day shooting, he had to leave set a few times because it was so emotional for him,” Soo Hugh, series creator, showrunner and exec producer told...

Spoiler Alert: The following interview contains spoilers from “Chapter 16,” the Season 2 finale of “Pachinko,” now streaming on Apple TV+.

The Apple TV+ drama “Pachinko” has once again delivered emotionally fraught season finale.

The time-jumping family drama about Korean immigrants, based on Min Jin Lee’s 2017 novel, put the focus of the season-ender primarily on a college-aged Noa (Tae Ju Kang) in 1951, as he experiences not only college life and his first serious girlfriend, but also finally arrives at the point we’ve been waiting for all season — his finding out that the wealthy and corrupt businessman Koh Hansu (Lee Min-ho) is his biological father.

Also, in the 1989 storyline, the older Sunja (Youn Yuh-jung) ends her budding romantic relationship, while her son Mozasu (Soji Arai) must confront someone from his past as he attempts to stop his ambitious son Solomon (Jin Ha) from going down a dark path he knows all too well.

The following contains spoilers from the Pachinko Season 2 finale, now streaming on Apple TV+.

The penultimate episode of Pachinko Season 2 surely yanked at the heartstrings of any parent who has ever sent a first child off to college.

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But that feeling, those damp eyes, were nothing — nothing — compared to what viewers had to be feeling when watching Friday’s season finale,...

‘Pachinko’ on Apple TV+ has just returned with episode 8 of its second season. Previously, it followed Noa’s journey toward Tokyo’s Waseda University. While he got the admission, Hansu’s father-in-law forbade him from attending his daughter’s wedding. So, Hansu murdered the old man as an act of revenge. Yoseb felt sorry for Kyunghee and decided not to be a barrier in her relationship with Chang-ho. However, Kyunghee refused to break her marriage. In 1991, Sunja became close friends with Kato-san. Mozasu got concerned and dug into Kato-san’s past. He found some shocking details that affected Sunja’s opinion of Kato-san. Now, Pachinko (Season 2 Finale) Episode 8 mainly follows Noa’s time at Waseda University with Nakazono Akiko. After learning a shocking truth about his past, he takes an irretrievable step.

Spoilers Ahead

Pachinko (Season 2 Finale) Episode 8 “Chapter Sixteen” Recap:

‘Pachinko’ (Season 2 Finale) Episode 8 follows Noa’s (Kang Tae-Ju...

In the Pachinko Season 2 finale (streaming this Friday on Apple TV+), the year is 1951 and Noa (played by Kang Tae-Ju) is absolutely thriving at Waseda University.

Alas, his plans for his future may not jibe with those envisioned by (ahem) his mother’s special friend, Hansu (Lee Min-ho) — as seen in TVLine’s exclusive sneak peek above.

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Although he became instantly famous with his documentary about his father, “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus”, it seems that Neo Sora has a lot more to give, as his feature debut, “HappyEnd”, which has already made a significant festival run, is brilliant.

HappyEnd is screening at Hawai’i International Film Festival

In a slightly futuristic setting, where advertisements and news are being broadcasted on the sky and on buildings, and smartphones are used as tracking devices, with the police implementing face-recognition by snapping photos of people, we meet our two main protagonists. Yuta and Kou are best friends, running the music club in their highschool, and as the movie begins, they are trying to get into an underground Dj set, eventually tricking their way into it, since they are still underage. Soon, the police arrive and the difference between the two friends becomes painfully apparent. Since Kou is Zainichi Korean, the police ask for his papers,...

Set at a strictly monitored Japanese high school at some point in the near future, Neo Sora’s “Happyend” might be a low-key drama about a group of friends as they steel themselves (and each other) against tomorrow in the weeks before they graduate and scatter to the winds. Yet this coming-of-age story — however pensive and hushed the rest of it might be — begins with an ominous blast of text that wouldn’t be out of place at the start of a violent sci-fi epic like Katsuhiro Otomo’s “Akira.” “Weather buildings creak louder,” read the words on the screen. “The systems that define people are crumbling in Tokyo. Something big is about to change.”

With an intro like that, I half-expected the film’s opening shot to show the biggest city on the planet engulfed in a silent black dome of pent-up psychic energy. Instead, “Happyend” lights up on...

Early on in “Happyend,” writer/director Neo Sora’s assured first narrative feature following his revelatory documentary about his late father, “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus,” we see a group of youths running into the silent streets of Tokyo after police shut down an underground party. Things could have been dire had it not been for two of them creating a distraction so they could all escape, yet they yell out in excitement as they hurl themselves into the darkness of the night before everything stops and they’re all frozen in time.

Accompanied by Lia Ouyang Rusli’s stellar score, the title card gently appears then quickly disappears. It’s as if we’re getting a fleeting snapshot of youthful joy we already feel is coming to an end. Their world is getting bigger just as it does smaller as they must face down adulthood while grappling with the growing repression all around them.

Films about filmmaking always scratch a very specific itch, exploring the various ups and downs that go into any given project. This is the subject of director Sôshi Masumoto’s debut feature, “It’s a Summer Film!”, in which he celebrates cinema’s history and ponders its future, although not without some major narrative hiccups.

Time of Eve is streaming on Jff Theater

High-schooler Barefoot (Marika Ito) is a lover of cinema. She and her friends adore classic samurai flicks and dream of making a similar film of their own. Unfortunately, the school Film Club has already decided to fund the clichéd rom-com “I Can’t Help Loving You,” directed by resident ‘it girl’, Karin (Mahiru Koda). However, when Barefoot finds the perfect samurai lead for her script in the mysterious Rintaro (Daichi Kaneko), she pulls together an unlikely crew and sets out to make “Samurai Spring”.

Following Barefoot’s endeavours...

Speculative fiction as cautionary sociopolitical commentary, Happyend marks a confident first step into narrative features for Neo Sora, who made last year’s stirring documentary tribute to his late father, Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus. The Japanese writer-director offsets the film’s depth of feeling with understatement and gentle humor, working with an appealing young cast as graduation-year high school classmates facing — or refusing to face — a bleak outlook for their future. Capturing that transitional moment when seemingly permanent adolescent ties suddenly appear uncertain, this is a melancholy drama laced with notes of anger and disquiet, but also resilience.

Sora opens with onscreen text about the traditional enforcers of crumbling systems growing weary in the near future, ushering in a time of change. That change is represented by youthful rebellion.

Keeping his focus tight on five inseparable friends plus one influential outsider to the group, the filmmaker effectively views their acts of individual and collective resistance,...

"If we're going to die, let's have fun." NYFF has revealed the first look teaser for a Japanese film arriving soon called Happyend, the first feature film directed by filmmaker Neo Sora, best known for his many Ryuichi Sakamoto docs. Happyend is premiering at the 2024 Venice Film Festival this weekend, before it goes on to play at both TIFF and NYFF later this fall, with an October release in Japan. Set in near-future Tokyo, the threat of a catastrophic earthquake looms. Two friends prank their principal before graduation, leading to school surveillance installation, which eventually leads to a rift between the high schooler boys. Happyend "amplifies the sociopolitical dynamics already present in Japan today." It's another fascinating surveillance thriller, with commentary on contemporary society, much like the other one Stranger Eyes also premiering in Venice. With Hayato Kurihara, Yukito Hidaka, Yuta Hayashi, Shina Peng, Arazi, Kilala Inori, Pushim, and Makiko Watanabe.

There are two very evident characteristics when one deals with Japanese cinema. The first one is the intelligence in the way the story is composed and presented, which frequently extends to the style of humor. The second is that too many local filmmakers do not know where and when to end their films. Juichiro Yamasaki’s “Yamabuki” definitely features both.

“Yamabuki” is screening at InlanDimensions

The script revolves around a series of characters, whose stories end up being interconnected. Chang-su is a former Olympic jockey for the South Korean national team, whose father’s bankruptcy and the subsequent loans he left forced him to move to Japan to get work that would allow to pay back. There, however, he has found some measure of happiness, working in a quarry where he is about to receive a promotion, and caring for Minami and her infant daughter, Uzuki. That is until local...

Classroom dynamics in the wake of a tragedy are ably explored in director Yuho Ishibashi’s “Sayounara”. It is based on a Sns manga of the same name by the artist Gomen and retains some of the original characters while expanding the world of the manga to suit the feature length format.

In a quiet coastal town lives Yuki, an ordinary high-school girl who likes doing what most girls her age like to do. She is not completely reserved but likes to mingle only with the people she gets along with. Her best friend is Aya, who she’s known for years and who one day, while on their after-school stroll on the beach, announces that she is moving to a different town and school and instinctively kisses Yuki. Yuki has still not collected her thoughts over the incident when she gets the news that Aya has passed away in...