Kazuo Ishiguro’s Debut Novel ‘A Pale View of Hills’ Now Being Filmed

Courtesy of Gaga Corp.

“A Pale View of Hills,” the debut novel of Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro, is being adapted into a feature film. The picture is currently in production, directed by Japan’s Ishikawa Kei.

The film is presented by U-Next, Japan’s leading local streaming company. Production is by Bunbuku in association with Number 9 Films, the U.K. company led by Stephen Woolley and Elizabeth Karlsen.

Gaga Corporation will handle distribution in Japan after the film’s expected completion in summer 2025. Currently, no sales agent or international distributor has been attached.

Number Nine Films previously produced “Living,” the Ishiguro-scripted, Bill Nighy-starring adaptation of Kurosawa Akira’s classic film “Ikiru,” which earned two Oscar nominations.

Gaga describes the film as “a mystery drama that unravels the secrets of a Japanese widow’s memories that cross over between post-war Nagasaki, Japan in the 1950s, and England in the 1980s, the end of the Cold War era.”

Published in 1982, “A Pale View of Hills” is the story of a middle-aged Japanese woman living a lonely existence in England. When her younger daughter visits, they discuss the suicide of the woman’s older daughter and her attempts to start a life in a new country. Hirose Suzu stars as the younger daughter.

Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan, and moved to the U.K. at age five with his parents. He was educated in the U.K. but spoke Japanese at home. He has said in interviews that his dual cultural roots significantly impacted his writing, and that the Japan depicted in his first two novels was largely imaginary.

Ishiguro, who holds U.K. citizenship, became a literary sensation with his 1989 third novel, “The Remains of the Day.” That novel was adapted into a Columbia Pictures-distributed film directed by James Ivory in 1993.

Director Ishikawa is known for “Gukoroku -Traces of Sin” and “A Man,” which both premiered at the Venice Film Festival. “What gave me the courage to face this great novel was the words of the author, who said, ‘I always believed that this story should be made into a film by the younger generation in Japan,’” Ishikawa said.

U-Next’s Ishiguro Hiroyuki will lead the producing team for the film. His previous work includes the Cannes-premiered animation “Belle” by Hosoda Mamoru.

Bunbuku has credits including the Cannes’ best screenplay award-winner “Monster” and the Netflix series “The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House,” both directed by Kore-eda.