Japanese sales and distribution outfit Kino Films has taken on world sales rights for “mentor,” a film directed by Yoshida Keisuke.
Two boys once triggered a catastrophe – a fireworks mishap that razed an apartment complex and claimed the wife and child of one of its residents, a man named Nomoto, who also suffered grievous burns. When the film picks up, a decade and a half has elapsed. One of the boys, now adult Ryunosuke, keeps the memory buried while trying to pass as someone unbroken; the other, Takumi, has never managed to put that night behind him. Nomoto’s sudden reappearance upends both men – not through vengeance, which each had braced for, but through a disquieting benevolence that leaves Ryunosuke more troubled than relief could ever make him, while drawing Takumi toward something he cannot quite name.
Isomura Hayato, winner of the best supporting actor award at the Japan Academy Film Prize for “The Moon” (2023) and known for films including “The Yakuza and the Family: The Family” and Cannes selected “Plan 75,” plays Ryunosuke. Suezawa Seiya, a member of the four-person idol group Ae!group – which made its CD debut in 2024 – plays Takumi. Ayano Go takes the role of Nomoto – the enigmatic figure whose identity is bound up with the film’s title and who holds the thread that connects both men’s fates.
Yoshida’s prior directorial credits include “Missing” (2024) and “Intolerance” (2021). “mentor” is a 2026 mentor Film Partners production, due in Japanese theaters Oct. 16. Kino Films’ recent Japanese releases include “Conclave,” with the Michael Jackson biopic “Michael” set for a local rollout in June.
