Japanese directors who film in foreign locations often find themselves out of their cultural and linguistic depth. The non-Japanese characters are stereotypes and the foreign-language dialogue is hokey. Meanwhile, the exotic setting serves only as a cliched backdrop for the Japanese protagonists, the true focus of the exercise.
But in "The Truth" (Original title: "La verite"), his first film set abroad, Hirokazu Kore-eda proves that he can step out of his comfort zone — the Japanese family drama — into another culture without wrong-footing it.
The opening film of this year's Venice International Film Festival, "The Truth" is a drama, based on Kore-eda's original script, about the testy reunion of a famous actress (Catherine Deneuve) and her adult daughter (Juliette Binoche) at the former's Paris home.