An(bc Sunday)

Frequent Cannes visitor Kawase Naomi opened this year’s Un Certain Regard sidebar with this gentle foodie drama, one of the arthouse filmmaker’s most accessible films yet. Sentaro (Nagase Masatoshi) lives a mundane life making mediocre dorayaki – cake with sweet red bean paste – in a small suburban bakery. One day, a kind old woman named Tokue (Kiki Kirin) applies as the store assistant, bringing with her a delicious homemade recipe for red bean paste. The two lonely souls eventually find a new purpose in life as their unlikely partnership leads to newfound success. Showing in detail the methodical process that goes into making the perfect dorayaki, AN is a sweet, humanistic drama that will surely make anyone with a sweet tooth salivate.