Acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda said a chance encounter with a manga about friendship, ambition and loss inspired him to make “Look Back”, the first live-action adaptation of a work by bestselling author Tatsuki Fujimoto.
Premiering at the Venice Film Festival on Monday, “Look Back” follows two schoolgirls brought together by a shared passion for drawing manga, only for fate to send them in different directions as they enter adulthood.
Kore-eda, whose films “Shoplifters”, “Like Father, Like Son” and “Nobody Knows” won awards at Cannes, said he picked up Fujimoto’s 2021 manga by chance during the COVID pandemic and found solace in it during a difficult period.
“When I met Mr. Fujimoto, I first wanted to express my gratitude and thank him for creating such a manga,” he told reporters in Venice, speaking through a translator.
“Since I’m a director, the natural next step, if I truly wanted to show my appreciation in a tangible way, was to turn it into a film,” he added.
Confident Pen Strokes
Manga, Japan’s distinctive form of comic books and graphic novels, has evolved into a multibillion-dollar global industry, producing stories across virtually every genre and spawning successful film, television and animation adaptations.
Japanese Filmmaker Kore-Eda Brings Beloved Manga Tale of Friendship to Venice
