Neon‘s Cannes Best Actress winner All of a Sudden from Drive My Car filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi is opening in theaters on Nov. 25.
The Japanese-French language drama premiered to an 11-minute standing ovation and went on to win a Best Actress prize for both of its stars, Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto.
Set in France and Japan, All of a Sudden follows Marie-Lou (Efira), the director of a care facility for the elderly, who is determined to introduce an innovative philosophy of care rooted in listening and respect for residents’ dignity, despite resistance from members of her staff. Her path is profoundly reshaped by an encounter with Mari (Okamoto), a Japanese theater director battling cancer. As the two women form a deep friendship, they join forces in a shared struggle to make the impossible possible.
Hamaguchi co-wrote the screenplay with Léa Le Dimna, loosely adapting the book of writings by Makiko Miyano and Maho Isono, When Life Suddenly Takes a Turn: Twenty Letters Between a Philosopher with Terminal Cancer and a Medical Anthropologist.
The film is produced by David Gauquié, Julien Deris, Jean-Luc Ormières and Renan Artukmaç for France’s Cinefrance Studios; Hiroko Matsuda, Kosuke Oshida and Yuji Sadai for Japan’s Office Shirous and Bitters End; Bettina Brokemper for Germany’s Heimatfilm; and Joseph Rouschop for Belgium’s Tarantula.
Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car won the New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association and National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Film. It went on to win the Best International Feature Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA, Independent Spirit and Critics Choice Awards. It was also the first Japanese film nominated for Best Picture along with Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. Hamaguchi’s Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy won the Silver Bear at the Berlinale and Evil Does Not Exist won the Silver Lion and FIPRESCI prize at the Venice Film Festival.
Other titles in the mix for Neon’s 2026 award slate are Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial, twin brother directing duo Arie and Chuko’s Clarissa, Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or winner, Fjord, James Gray’s Paper Tiger, Na Hong-Jin’s Hope and the William and David Greaves documentary Once Upon a Time in Harlem.