“Look Back” is Kore-eda Hirokazu’s third time working from manga source material, but never before has the arthouse filmmaker drawn from such a commercially popular and internationally beloved work.A one-volume story from “Chainsaw Man” mangaka Fujimoto Tatsuki, “Look Back” follows the converging, then diverging, fates of two classmates, Fujino and Kyomoto, who achieve their professional manga-making dreams while still in school.
\n\nThe film premieres in Venice competiton.“I was drawn to the image on the cover — the back of a child who’s sitting drawing manga” reflects Kore-eda. “I read it all that evening. It’s an incredible manga which I was very moved by.”
\n\nThe book provided a light in the midst of a pandemic-necessitated slump. “Movie theaters had closed,” says Kore-eda. “It was as if the work that I loved doing was being negated by the world. Encountering this manga encouraged me to confront why I do what I do. To convey my gratitude towards the person that wrote it, as an answer of sorts, I decided to make a film — because I am a filmmaker.”
\n\nThe result is a fascinating fusion of Kore-eda’s stylistic trademarks — working naturalistically with child actors — and the heightened panel-to-panel tempo of…
Original source: https://variety.com/