Last year, Ryusuke Hamaguchi “Evil Does Not Exist” was released in the U.S, and unsurprisingly, while that was happening, he started working on his next film.
Hamaguchi’s next one is titled “Our Apprenticeship” and will be shot in France. I wasn’t given any plot details or actors attached, but it’s said to be a France-Japan co-production focusing on a Japanese girl studying in Paris, Production is supposed to start very soon.
In recent years, there’s been a trend of non-French filmmakers making films in France: Paul Verhoeven, Richard Linklater, Woody Allen, Ira Sachs, and Roman Polanski, to name a few. Jim Jarmusch and Alexander Payne are also supposed to be shooting upcoming projects in France.
The reason for this sudden burst of international auteurs headed to France might reside in their government putting in a fair bit of work to support the film industry — especially when it comes to grants and tax breaks. It’s just much easier to make a film in France, especially if you’re already a well-established director.
“Our Apprenticeship” will be Hamaguchi’s first non-Japanese/Korean production. The film is said to feature a young cast composed of a gay French couple, a Syrian, a Belgian, a South Korean and Japanese woman at its center.
Hamaguchi began collecting funding on “Our Apprenticeship” in 2019. However, the pandemic halted his plans to shoot the film in 2020. He later admitted that the project had been scrapped, but now not only is it back, but it’s now about to go into post-production.
Hamaguchi has really come into his own since “Drive My Car” triumphed at Cannes and even received a Best Picture nominations at the Oscars. His first few films, the acclaimed 5-hour “Happy Hour” (didn’t see it) and the underrated “Asako 1 & 2” set the stage for his emergence. Also his “other” 2021 film, the entertaining triptych “Wheel of Fortune Fantasy,” is well worth a look — I find it to be just as good, if not better than “Drive My Car.”
For the time being, “‘Evil Does Not Exist” is available digitally; a slow-burn that rewards the viewer’s patience with a stunner of an ending. There are lots of long takes, shots of nature, all accompanied by Eiko Ishibashi’s delicate score. It’s a film that takes time to reveal its cards, but it’s absolutely worth the patience.