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Japan’s Koji Yakusho wins easiest actor at Cannes for ‘Best Days’, an ode to a rest room cleaner

Through AFP

CANNES: Japan’s Koji Yakusho received easiest actor at Cannes on Saturday for “Best Days” by way of German director Wim Wenders, a touching story a few Tokyo rest room cleaner.

“I need to in particular thank Wim Wenders… who really created an impressive personality,” he mentioned as he won the award.

Yakusho, 67, seems in maximum scenes of “Best Days” as a mysterious, bookish guy with out pals, content material to spend his spare time studying, watering his vegetation, taking footage and paying attention to songs on his automotive stereo.

Director Wim Wenders, left, and Koji Yakusho pose on the picture name for the movie ‘Best Days’ on the 76th global movie competition, Cannes, southern France, Would possibly 26, 2023. (AP)

The flexible actor’s roles in over 4 a long time of movie-making have ranged from warlords and gangsters to killers and police officers — and now an everyman who helps to keep the general public washrooms of Tokyo pristine.

He has additionally crossed over to Hollywood for “Memoirs of a Geisha” in 2005 and “Babel” a 12 months later.

“Wim had given me little or no data… There used to be numerous thriller. Even lately, it is a personality I do know virtually not anything about,” he mentioned of his function, which concerned virtually no discussion.

Koji Yakusho (AP)

“It used to be the primary time I shot like that, over an overly quick duration, with out practice session,” he mentioned about running with some of the giants of Eu cinema.

Germany’s Wenders, 77, received the highest prize Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1984 for “Paris, Texas”.

Born in 1956 in Isahaya, Nagasaki prefecture, Yakusho first labored as a the town corridor worker earlier than turning to performing in 1979, after following up on an advert in a newspaper.

Out of 800 applicants he used to be considered one of 4 decided on, “and lately I’m the one one to be an actor”, he advised French media in 2003.

His first giant function that helped propel his occupation used to be in the preferred hit “Tampopo” (1985) concerning the hunt for a noodle soup recipe.

Since then amongst his notable movies were “The Eel”, winner of the Palme in 1997, and “The 3rd Homicide” in 2017.

In 2009 he made his first and handiest function “Toad’s Oil” by which he additionally performed the lead function.

Requested what helps to keep him going within the industry, he advised The Hollywood Reporter in 2019: “I at all times suppose I don’t have it rather proper, however within the subsequent movie I will in spite of everything nail it. I assume that is the drug of this trade for me, which has stored me going for 40 years.”

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The actual winner at Cannes used to be actress Sandra Hueller

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CANNES: Japan’s Koji Yakusho received easiest actor at Cannes on Saturday for “Best Days” by way of German director Wim Wenders, a touching story a few Tokyo rest room cleaner.

“I need to in particular thank Wim Wenders… who really created an impressive personality,” he mentioned as he won the award.

Yakusho, 67, seems in maximum scenes of “Best Days” as a mysterious, bookish guy with out pals, content material to spend his spare time studying, watering his vegetation, taking footage and paying attention to songs on his automotive stereo.googletag.cmd.push(serve as() googletag.show(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); );

Director Wim Wenders, left, and Koji Yakusho pose on the picture name for the movie ‘Best Days’ on the 76th global movie competition, Cannes, southern France, Would possibly 26, 2023. (AP)

The flexible actor’s roles in over 4 a long time of movie-making have ranged from warlords and gangsters to killers and police officers — and now an everyman who helps to keep the general public washrooms of Tokyo pristine.

He has additionally crossed over to Hollywood for “Memoirs of a Geisha” in 2005 and “Babel” a 12 months later.

“Wim had given me little or no data… There used to be numerous thriller. Even lately, it is a personality I do know virtually not anything about,” he mentioned of his function, which concerned virtually no discussion.

Koji Yakusho (AP)

“It used to be the primary time I shot like that, over an overly quick duration, with out practice session,” he mentioned about running with some of the giants of Eu cinema.

Germany’s Wenders, 77, received the highest prize Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1984 for “Paris, Texas”.

Born in 1956 in Isahaya, Nagasaki prefecture, Yakusho first labored as a the town corridor worker earlier than turning to performing in 1979, after following up on an advert in a newspaper.

Out of 800 applicants he used to be considered one of 4 decided on, “and lately I’m the one one to be an actor”, he advised French media in 2003.

His first giant function that helped propel his occupation used to be in the preferred hit “Tampopo” (1985) concerning the hunt for a noodle soup recipe.

Since then amongst his notable movies were “The Eel”, winner of the Palme in 1997, and “The 3rd Homicide” in 2017.

In 2009 he made his first and handiest function “Toad’s Oil” by which he additionally performed the lead function.

Requested what helps to keep him going within the industry, he advised The Hollywood Reporter in 2019: “I at all times suppose I don’t have it rather proper, however within the subsequent movie I will in spite of everything nail it. I assume that is the drug of this trade for me, which has stored me going for 40 years.”

ALSO READ | 

Turkey’s Merve Dizdar wins easiest actress at Cannes for ‘About Dry Grasses’

The actual winner at Cannes used to be actress Sandra Hueller

‘Protests over pension reforms in France repressed in stunning method’: ‘Palme’ winner Justine Triet