A Robot Son: Kore-eda's New Film Arrives at Cannes
Hirokazu Kore-eda, the Japanese director best known for Shoplifters — which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2018 — is back at the festival with a new film. Sheep in the Box tells the story of a couple, Otone and Kensuke, who have lost their young son. To fill the silence in their home, they bring in an infant humanoid robot that looks and sounds just like him. The film premieres in the main competition on May 16 and opens in Japanese cinemas on May 29.
The casting is one of the film's most talked-about choices. Haruka Ayase, one of Japan's most recognisable film actresses, plays Otone. Alongside her is Yamamoto Daigo, of the comedy duo Chidori, in his first leading role in a feature film. The combination of a respected drama actress and a beloved comedian stepping into serious territory feels very much like a Kore-eda move: he has always been drawn to performers who can hold still and let feeling come to the surface.
The premise — a grieving couple who take in a machine made to resemble their dead child — sits at a question the director has returned to again and again: what makes a family? In earlier films he explored families that formed outside blood ties, often in small cluttered houses, with people who had nowhere else to go. Here the stakes are similar, but the setting is the near future, and the missing member of the family is not a runaway or a stranger but a humanoid built to order. It is a quiet, almost uncomfortable idea, and Kore-eda's films are at their best when the discomfort is quiet.
Sheep in the Box is one of three films by Japanese directors in competition this year — a first since 2001, when the same festival included Kore-eda's own Distance. Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Koji Fukada also have films in the running for the Palme d'Or, which this year will be decided by a jury led by South Korean director Park Chan-wook. Japan is also the Marché du Film's Country of Honour for 2026, giving the country an unusually prominent place at the festival as a whole.
Sources
- Sheep in the Box - Wikipedia
- Hirokazu Kore-eda Starts Shooting 'Sheep In The Box' - Deadline
- Three Japanese directors vie for top prize at Cannes, a first since 2001 - The Japan Times
- Cannes 2026 Competition Jury Set Under Park Chan-Wook - Deadline
- The lowdown on all the Cannes Film Festival 2026 titles - Screen Daily
- Hirokazu Kore-eda - Wikipedia
Vocabulary
- humanoid
- having a shape or appearance that is similar to a human being — The research team built a humanoid robot that could walk up stairs.
- competition
- the main group of films chosen to compete for the top prize at a film festival — Her debut film was selected for competition at a major European festival.
- premise
- the main idea or situation that a story or argument is built on — The novel's premise is that a small town loses its electricity permanently.
- resemble
- to look very similar to someone or something — The boy was said to resemble his grandfather in both face and manner.
- grieving
- feeling very sad because someone you love has died — The grieving parents found it hard to return to their normal routines.
- discomfort
- a feeling of slight worry or unease caused by something that is difficult to accept — There was a moment of discomfort when no one at the table knew what to say.
- prominent
- important and easy to notice, or well known to many people — The architect gave the entrance a prominent position on the building's front.
- recognisable
- easy to identify because you have seen or heard it before — The actor became recognisable to audiences around the world after just one film.