Following up his best film this decade, After the Storm, Hirokazu Kore-eda is continuing his usually prolific streak with a pair of dramas. Last fall saw the premiere of his murder mystery/courtroom drama The Third Murder and he’s now finishing up his next film, Shoplifters, in time for a summer release in Japan and likely Cannes premiere. Today brings the first look at the latter and a new trailer for the former.
First up, Shoplifters stars Lily Franky, Sakura Ando, Kengo Kora, Sosuke Ikematsu, Chizuru Ikewaki, Yuki Yamada, Yoko Moriguchi and Akira Emoto, the film follows a family of shoplifters who take in an orphan. Then we have a new U.K. trailer for The Third Murder, which follows a defense attorney (Masaharu Fukuyama) who has different ideas about the case than his client (Kôji Yakusho), who confessed. Check out both the first look and trailer (hat tip to First Showing) below, along with synopses.
After one of their shoplifting sessions, Osamu and his son come across a little girl in the freezing cold. At first reluctant to shelter the girl, Osamu’s wife agrees to take care of her after learning of the hardships she faces. Although the family is poor, barely making enough money to survive through petty crime, they seem to live happily together until an unforeseen incident reveals hidden secrets, testing the bonds that unite them…
Leading attorney Shigemori takes on the defence of murder-robbery suspect Misumi who served jail time for another murder 30 years ago. Shigemori’s chances of winning the case seem low – his client freely admits his guilt, despite facing the death penalty if he is convicted. As he digs deeper into the case, as he hears the testimonies of the victim’s family and Misumi himself, the once confident Shigemori begins to doubt whether his client is the murderer after all.
Shoplifters will be released in Japan this June and The Third Murder hits the U.K. on March 23. Neither film currently has a specific U.S. release date, although Film Movement will release the latter sometime this summer.