Ryusuke Hamaguchi might be coming to America for his next film. Hear that? That's the sound of every actor in Hollywood frantically lining up for a part.
French actress Marie Bunel, a longtime Claude Chabrol collaborator who appears in Hamaguchi's latest, "All of a Sudden," let slip on a French film podcast back in August that the two bonded over their shared love of the late French master. She also revealed that Hamaguchi plans to adapt a Chabrol film in the United States.
Which one? There's a good chance it's "Just Before Nightfall."
This isn't the first time we've heard about it. It came up on Nicolas Rapold's podcast last year, around the time the Naruse retrospective was playing in New York, that Hamaguchi was working on a remake of "The Thin Line," Edward Atiyah's 1951 novel about a man who kills his mistress and then can't live with the guilt, mostly because nobody seems interested in punishing him.
That book has already been adapted twice, by two filmmakers who clearly mean a lot to Hamaguchi. Mikio Naruse turned it into "The Stranger Within a Woman" in 1966, and Chabrol made "Just Before Nightfall" in 1971, one of the best films of his great late-'60s/early-'70s run, right alongside "Le Boucher" and "La Femme Infidèle."
This would mark the next big step for a filmmaker who keeps expanding his map. "All of a Sudden," his first film made in French, is a 196-minute drama starring Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto, who shared the Best Actress prize at Cannes. It's one of the year's best films, and it's also Japan's official Oscar submission for Best International Feature.
"All of a Sudden" is also Hamaguchi's first production outside of Japan. His 2021 film "Drive My Car" won acclaim at Cannes and earned a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars, firmly establishing him on the international stage.
Hamaguchi's earlier films, the highly praised five-hour "Happy Hour" and the overlooked "Asako I & II," helped lay the groundwork for that success. His other 2021 release, the captivating triptych "Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy," is also worth watching; some even find it equal to or better than "Drive My Car." I know I do. His last film, 2023's "Evil Does Not Exist," was a slow burn that rewarded patient viewers with a powerfully ambiguous ending. Another one well worth checking out.
Janusz Kamiński is part of the “Digger hive.” He called it "magnificent" and "one of the best films he has ever seen." Nobody had brought the film up in the interview. Kamiński just decided to firmly plant his stance.