Koji Yakusho wins best actor at Cannes

May 28 (Barrons) - Japan's Koji Yakusho won best actor at Cannes on Saturday for "Perfect Days" by German director Wim Wenders, a touching tale about a Tokyo toilet cleaner.

"I want to specifically thank Wim Wenders... who truly created a magnificent character," he said as he received the award.

Yakusho, 67, appears in most scenes of "Perfect Days" as a mysterious, bookish man without friends, content to spend his spare time reading, watering his plants, taking photos and listening to songs on his car stereo.

The versatile actor's roles in over four decades of movie-making have ranged from warlords and gangsters to killers and cops -- and now an everyman who keeps the public washrooms of Tokyo pristine.

He has also crossed over to Hollywood for "Memoirs of a Geisha" in 2005 and "Babel" a year later. ...continue reading

Source: ANNnewsCH

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