Shinji Somai, who died in 2001 after making only 13 films, ranks high in the local directorial pantheon, with his 1993 coming-of-age drama тАЬMovingтАЭ hailed as a masterpiece by Japanese critics.
But Somai was long in the shadow of other Japanese directors who rose to international prominence in the 1990s. тАЬMovingтАЭ was screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, but got relatively little attention outside Japan for decades.
Now the tide is turning with a new 4K restoration that screened at Cannes and Venice in 2024 hitting theaters in Japan.
