{"id":483897,"date":"2026-05-14T07:21:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T07:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/483897\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T07:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T07:21:10","slug":"nagi-notes-director-koji-fukada-reunites-with-mk2-films-on-roca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/483897\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Nagi Notes’ Director Koji Fukada Reunites With MK2 Films on ‘Roca’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMK2 Films<\/a> has boarded\u00a0\u201cRoca,\u201d the new feature from acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Koji Fukada<\/a>, whose latest film, \u201cNagi Note,\u201d premiered in competition at Cannes Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Adapted from a manga by Hisaichi Ishii (\u201cMy Neighbors the Yamadas\u201d),\u00a0\u201cRoca\u201d\u00a0follows teenagers Roca, an aspiring fado singer, and Mino, the daughter of a small-time yakuza, who develop a close connection. But as Roca\u2019s musical ambitions begin to take shape, Mino\u2019s increasingly dangerous activities threaten to pull them apart, forcing Roca to choose between her future and the person who has always protected her.<\/p>\n

\n\tBlending comedy and music, \u201cRoca\u201d will showcase a shift in tone for Fukada while carrying themes of loneliness and human connection explored in his past films. The feature also marks the sixth collaboration between Fukada and the Paris-based sales company, following \u201cNagi Notes<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0\u201cLove on Trial,\u201d which premiered at Cannes last year, \u201cLove Life,\u201d which competed at Venice in 2022, \u201cHarmonium,\u201d winner of Cannes\u2019s Un Certain Regard Prize and \u201cA Girl Missing,\u201d which played at Locarno and Toronto. \u201cRoca\u201d\u00a0is produced by TBS and Comme des Cin\u00e9mas. <\/p>\n

MK2 Films boasts a strong presence once again at this year\u2019s Cannes with 11 features across the official selection, including five in competition: Marie Kreutzer\u2019s \u201cGentle Monster,\u201d\u00a0L\u00e9a Mysius\u2019 \u201cThe Birthday Party,\u201d Andrey Zvyagintsev\u2019s \u201cMinotaur,\u201d Ira Sachs\u2019 \u201cThe Man I Love\u201d and\u00a0\u201cNagi Notes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe latter is set in the bucolic town of Nagi, where Yoriko, a sculptor, is living in the shadow of a past love that continues to shape her art. Variety gave the film a glowing review. \u201c\u2018Nagi Notes\u2019 happily sees the director returning to the form of his 2016 breakout \u201cHarmonium,\u201d with the precision of its characterization and the balance between heartfelt emotional candor and pensive silence in its finely worked script,\u201d Guy Lodge wrote in his review<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn an interview with Variety, <\/a>Fukada said the project originated in 2017 when playwright Oriza Hirata invited him to adapt his 1994 play \u201cTokyo Notes\u201d and recommended Nagi Museum of Contemporary Art as the potential film set.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MK2 Films has boarded\u00a0\u201cRoca,\u201d the new feature from acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Koji Fukada, whose latest film, \u201cNagi Note,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":483898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[263],"tags":[11519,18,117,19,17,211652,12875,327,211653],"class_list":["post-483897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-cannes-film-festival","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-koji-fukada","tag-mk2-films","tag-movies","tag-nagi-notes"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116571726419330897","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}