Koji Yakusho wins best actor at Cannes

Barrons -- May 28

Japan's Koji Yakusho won best actor at Cannes on Saturday for "Perfect Days" by German director Wim Wenders, a touching tale about a Tokyo toilet cleaner.

"I want to specifically thank Wim Wenders... who truly created a magnificent character," he said as he received the award.

Yakusho, 67, appears in most scenes of "Perfect Days" as a mysterious, bookish man without friends, content to spend his spare time reading, watering his plants, taking photos and listening to songs on his car stereo.

The versatile actor's roles in over four decades of movie-making have ranged from warlords and gangsters to killers and cops -- and now an everyman who keeps the public washrooms of Tokyo pristine.

He has also crossed over to Hollywood for "Memoirs of a Geisha" in 2005 and "Babel" a year later. ...continue reading

May 28 (ANNnewsCH) - 世界三大映画祭の一つ、カンヌ国際映画祭で日本映画の2つの作品が受賞する快挙を成し遂げました。  ...continue reading