‘Shoplifters’ Star Lily Franky Heads Cast of ‘Diamonds in the Sand,’ Debut Feature by Janus Victoria — HAF Work-in-Progress
variety.comPatrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Lily Franky, the Japanese acting sensation who starred in “Shoplifters” and “Like Father Like Son,” heads the cast of “Diamonds in the Sand,” a multinational co-production that appears at the Hong Kong — Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) as a work in progress.
Developed and directed by Janus Victoria, the film started as an exploration of the Japanese phenomenon of kodokushi, or lonely death, where elderly people who live alone are discovered dead only months after their passing due to the isolated lives that they lead.
In Victoria’s telling, Franky’s Yoji is a divorced and demoted Japanese salaryman who chooses to abandon it all and head to Manila.
He believes that nobody is lonely in the Philippines. For all its drawbacks and discomforts, the chaos of Manila offers the promise of life, human connection and unpredictable destiny, as opposed to kodokushi’s dark, silent certainty.
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