Café Lumière
Café Lumière (珈琲時光, Kōhī Jikō) is a 2003 Japanese film directed by Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien for Shochiku as homage to Yasujirō Ozu, with direct reference to the late director's Tokyo Story (1953). It premiered at a festival commemorating the centenary of Ozu's birth. It was nominated for a Golden Lion at the 2004 Venice Film Festival.
| Café Lumière | |
|---|---|
 French promotional poster for Café Lumière | |
| Directed by | Hou Hsiao-hsien |
| Produced by | Liao Ching-Song, Hideji Miyajima, Fumiko Osaka, Ichirō Yamamoto |
| Written by | Hou Hsiao-hsien (screenplay), Chu T’ien-wen (screenplay) |
| Starring | Yo Hitoto Tadanobu Asano Masato Hagiwara Kimiko Yo Nenji Kobayashi |
| Music by | Yōsui Inoue |
| Cinematography | Mark Lee Ping Bin |
| Edited by | Liao Ching-Song |
| Distributed by | Shochiku |
Release date | 2003 |
Running time | 103 minutes |
| Country | Japan, Taiwan |
| Language | Japanese |
Plot
The story revolves around Yoko Inoue (played by Yo Hitoto), a young Japanese woman doing research on Taiwanese composer Jiang Wen-Ye, whose work is featured on the soundtrack. The late composer's Japanese wife and daughter also make appearances as themselves.
Cast
- Yo Hitoto - Yoko Inoue (井上 陽子 Inoue Yōko)
- Tadanobu Asano - Hajime Takeuchi (竹内 肇 Takeuchi Hajime)
- Masato Hagiwara - Seiji
- Kimiko Yo - Yoko's stepmother
- Nenji Kobayashi - Yoko's father
Reception
Café Lumière was placed at 98 on Slant Magazine's best films of the 2000s.[1]
In 2019, director Steve McQueen named it as the best film of the 21st century, describing it as "[a] film that happens without you knowing."[2]
Notes
- "Best of the Aughts: Film". Slant Magazine. Retrieved February 10, 2010.
- "The directors' cut: film-makers choose the best movies of the century so far". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 September 2019.