When a Japanese director wins the Palme d'Or — the highest award at the Cannes Film Festival, the film world's equivalent of soccer's World Cup — the response of the local media is to celebrate: Our side won.
Making the victory sweeter for Hirokazu Kore-eda in his sixth Cannes appearance, with the family drama "Shoplifters," was his film's underdog status: Despite ranking high in the critics' poll of Cannes competition films conducted by Screen International magazine, "Shoplifters" was largely ignored in speculation about the probable Palme victor (Japanese media, of course, excepted).
"We were completely bowled over by 'Shoplifters.' How intermeshed the performances were with the directorial vision," jury president Cate Blanchett told the press in explaining the jury's decision. "It was one of the quietest, loveliest and most emotionally enduring films in the competition," she added.