These are eight Asian films you shouldn’t miss at the Festival du Nouveau Cinema which will take place from October 4 – 15, 2023 in Montreal, Canada.

#Mito by Daisuke Miyazaki – Japan | 2023 – 78 minutes | Fiction
Fashion and beauty influencer Mito is a superstar, an idol for the young generation. Her every social media livestream goes viral. But a new collaboration linked to an app exploiting her dewy-eyed appeal turns sour when her image is used for illegal purposes. Suddenly, her fame turns frighteningly against her . . . Stylish and quirky, #Mito is an incisive critique — not without humour — of the contrived authenticity of the social media influencer. FNC regular Miyazaki introduces actress Tina Tamashiro, who brings to the screen the enigmatic, strangely acerbic persona lurking beneath her character’s fresh-faced schoolgirl mien. (FNC 2023)

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Evil Does Not Exist by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi – Japan | 2023 – 106 minutes | Fiction
Takumi lives with his daughter, Hana, in the Japanese village of Harasawa. Their peaceful life is threatened by Playmode, a Tokyo-based multinational that’s about to build a glamping site for tourists. Despite the community’s fears about the project’s disastrous environmental impacts, the company is unmoved and forges ahead with its plans. After the hugely successful Drive My Car,the Japanese filmmaker defies expectations and returns with an eco-political thriller. In this uncanny and captivating film, Hamagushi’s nuanced approach – but with plenty of twists and turns – to arguably the biggest issue of our time reveals the power of the filial bond and the urgent need to build a world in harmony with nature. (FNC 2023)

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In Our Day by Hong Sangsoo – Korea | 2023 – 84 minutes | Fiction
On the one hand, a jaded famous actress is approached by an ingénue looking for valuable advice. On the other, an old poet struggling to curb his addiction to booze and cigarettes under the watchful eye of an aspiring documentary filmmaker is visited by a fan with a million questions. In Our Day flips back and forth between these two introspective narratives that delve into Epicurean philosophy. With its resolutely Zen narrative approach, the thirtieth feature from the Korean master takes a candid dive into our existential torments. A more playful Hong Sang-Soo than ever, replete with his graceful melancholy. (FNC 2023)

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Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell by Thien An Pham – Vietnam, Singapore, France, Spain | 2023 – 178 minutes
When his sister-in-law is killed in a motorcycle accident, Thien brings her ashes back to his native village. By the same token, he’s also now the guardian of his five-year-old nephew, who miraculously survived the collision. Only by setting off in search of his elder brother — the boy’s father, who’s been missing for years — will the young man come to terms with his grief. With a languorous sensuality reminiscent of Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Pham Tien An’s first feature, set in the disconcerting splendour of rural Vietnam, is a spiritual journey where childhood memories, dreams and regrets collide. Camera d’or (for best first feature) at this year’s Cannes. (FNC 2023)

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Monster by Hirokazu Kore-Eda – Japan | 2023 – 126 minutes
Young Minato’s behaviour at home is increasingly strange. Demanding an answer, his mother confronts the school principal and gets sucked into a bewildering vortex. The evidence points to an abusive teacher, but are things really what they seem? Five years after winning the Palme d’Or for A Family Affair, Kore‑Eda once again trains his lens on contemporary Japan with a shape-shifting, nested narrative that had him back on the podium at this year’s Cannes. With surgical precision, he dissects the flaws of an education system where everyone is both victim and persecutor. Constantly switching its perspective, Monster keeps the audience engaged and guessing right until the very end. (FNC 2023)

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National Anarchist: Lino Brocka by Khavn de la Cruz – Philippines | 2023 – 70 minutes
For many years, Filipino filmmaker Lino Brocka was practically unknown outside his homeland; he finally caught international cinephiles’ attention when Manila (1975) and Insiang (1976) were restored by Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Foundation. Drawing from a vast body of work comprising some 60 films, Khavn De La Cruz embarked on a massive experimental editing project, organized into sections based on the artist’s favourite themes. The result is an exceptional gateway to a corpus that captures a vast swath of the Philippines’ social history. National Anarchist is also a portrait of a rebel and fierce opponent of the dictatorship of the time. His allegedly accidental death remains a mystery. (FNC 2023)

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Perfect Days by Wim Wenders – Japan | 2023 – 124 minutes
Hirayama’s daily life is framed by ritual. Every morning after breakfast, he roams through Tokyo doing maintenance on public toilets. At night, he takes refuge in the bath and the bar, reads and photographs trees. His placid daily routine is shaken up by the arrival of his niece Niko, who reopens wounds from the past. A stirring sojourn into a timeless, poetic Tokyo and Wim Wenders’ homage to the films of Japanese master Yasujiro Ozu, this touching and meditative ode to the ordinary stands out by its gentle existentialist exploration and rousing pop/rock soundtrack. Best Actor award for Koji Yakusho at Cannes. (FNC 2023)

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Shadow of Fire by Shinya Tsukamoto – Japan | 2023 – 95 minutes
At the end of the Second World War, in a small dive bar in Japan, a woman sells her body, the last thing of value she owns. A thieving orphan shows up, followed by a demobilized soldier who’s traumatized by the devastation all around. Improbably, something resembling family life develops among the trio. But the scars of war are merciless, and drive everything toward an implosion. The master creator of the most rebellious and explosive trends in Japanese cinema, Shinya Tsukomoto (the recipient of our lifetime achievement award, the Louve d’honneur, in 2014) is finally back. The film completes his war trilogy (after Fires on the Plane and Killing). A kind of prayer for peace on behalf of the shadows of this world, Shadow of Fireconfronts evil where it hurts most. (FNC 2023)

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More information: https://nouveaucinema.ca/en