Hirokazu Koreeda’s latest film “Look Back” has opened in Korean theaters to positive reviews, with critics praising the director’s painterly visuals and deeply felt storytelling.
According to Kookmin Ilbo, the film was released in Korea on October 8. It follows Fujino, a girl who loves drawing manga, and Kyomoto, a reclusive shut-in for whom drawing is her only hobby, as the two share the joy of creation and grow into inseparable friends.
Koreeda shot the entire film on a film camera — a deliberate choice. He told reporters he wanted to concentrate his awareness “on what is happening ‘here, at this moment,’” a philosophy he says film stock makes possible. The four seasons of a rural village are captured like paintings, and the outlet called Koreeda’s signature cinematography at its peak.
The director said the project “became an occasion for me to face cinema again.” He recalled discovering the original manga by chance in a bookstore and being struck by it, feeling it was “a story about the karma that creators carry.” It raised the question, he said, of why people write stories, make films, and create: “I wanted to express the shock I felt through film.”
The film is based on Tatsuki Fujimoto’s manga of the same name, which was also adapted into a theatrical anime film in 2024.
With strong early word of mouth, “Look Back” is drawing attention as one of the season’s standout releases for fans of contemplative Japanese cinema.
