International: Asia
Fantasia 2026 Review: CHERRY AND VIRGIN, A Nervous and Experimental Work of Genius
I was 18 years old when an adult friend I met at a summer factory job recommended that I see Federico Fellini's 8 1/2. I could not make heads or tails of the movie, in Italian, in black and white,...
Fantasia 2026 Review: VILLAGE OF EIGHT GRAVESTONES, Takashi Shimizu Proves Traditional Murder Mysteries Are Better With Ghosts
When Tatsuya’s estranged mom suddenly passes away, he is forced to head out to her old, isolated village and meet the family he has never known, the Tajimi Family. On the way there, he bumps into private detective Kosuke Kindaichi,...
Now Streaming: THOUGH I AM AN INEPT VILLAINESS, The Other Side of Revenge
Plus: 'A Lady Livid's Guide to Getting Even: How I Crushed My Homeland with My Mighty Grimoires' takes a more conventional approach to revenge.
Echoes: Why Is Horror the Most Untapped Genre in Lollywood?
Where horror films began in Lollywood, where they have gone, and what might keep them from going forward.
Fantasia 2026 Review: THE LAST HORROR, Myanmar's First Found-Footage Film is Too Safe With The Scares
The Last Footage starts with a collection of videos from life loggers, users recording daily experiences using wearable tech. We see the Burmese peoples out jogging along lakefronts, playing concerts with their bands, riding the backseat of a motorcycle which...
Fantasia 2026 Review: TRISTES TROPIQUES, Lots of Blood, Little Reward
Roo (Tears in Chinese) was abandoned by his mother at an early age and taken into the care of a man he has only ever known as Master. Raised in the jungle with other discarded children, Roo was taught to...
Opening This Week: SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY, I WANT YOUR SEX, THE SAMURAI AND THE PRISONER
Heading to cinemas: Unlikely people team up.
Fantasia 2026 Review: BEASTS CLUTCHING AT STRAWS, A Sack Of Cash Causes Problems In This Black Comedy Thriller
A desperately unpopular streamer with a dementia-stricken mother, a crooked cop, a duplicitous femme fatale, and a sack full of money collide in director Jojo Hideo's Beasts Clutching at Straws, an adaptation of the Sone Keisuke novel previously filmed by...
Fantasia 2026 Review: LEVITATING, Get Swept Up In This Ecstatic Vision Of Folk Cinema
The drums pound, the guitar drones, the flute splashes a chaotic layer of color over it all as the guru chants, the spirit addicts undulate, enraptured by their ecstatic trance, directed by the spirits of the Indonesian jungle. This vision...
Fantasia 2026 Exclusive: CHAAR DIWAARI Trailer Examines The Creeping Feeling That The Walls Are Closing In
Celebrating its upcoming North American premiere on July 30th at the Fantasia International Film Festival is Syed Shadan's claustrophobic short film chiller, Chaar Diwaari (Four Walls). Premiering as part of the Fragments of Asia short film program at the festival,...
Now Playing: HER PRIVATE HELL, SHEEP IN THE BOX, MANHUNTER: THE FINAL CUT
Our primary focus remains the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, Canada, but not all of us could make the trip this year, so instead we cast our eyes on what opened in movie theaters today. Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey...
Fantasia 2026 Review: NIKO, All Night Pretentious Delight
Cyber-punk adjacent, arthouse romance, pop-philosophical musing Niko debuts K-pop Girls' Generation member, Tiffany Young in the titular role as a woman who runs a business hiring herself out to comfort and talk to people who have locked themselves out of...
Fantasia 2026 Review: YOU ARE THE FILM, A Meta-Cinema Romance That Tears a Hole in the Universe
As someone who typically goes to the movies on a Sunday night for the 10:30pm show, and typically to go watch the stranger side of cinema, I am often given a ‘private screening’ from the local Cineplex chain. Because,...
SHEEP IN THE BOX Review: Tale of Not So Artificial Intelligence
It is indeed a perilous fate to be a film festival darling. On the one hand, sure, you might have a standing invitation for your next work in one of the “Big Five”. The downside is that, after a while,...
SMOKING BEHIND THE SUPERMARKET WITH YOU Review: Cigarettes Spark Uncertain Yet Smoldering, Troubling Romance
Crunchyroll's series takes a far different approach to the smoking habit, compared to Netflix's crass take in 'Chainsmoker Cat.'
SHEEP IN THE BOX Interview: Hirokazu Kore-eda on the Future of AI Technology and Human Society
The science fiction drama stars Haruka Ayase and Daigo Yamamoto as a couple and Kuwaki Rimu as the humanoid son.
CRUEL STORY OF YOUTH 4K Review: Anger and Desire in Post-War Japan
In western cinema, the 1950s and 1960s are often portrayed as a time of youth in revolt: the birth of a teenager as a particular cultural and social entity, and with it, the problems of education, social life, work, and...
Shanghai 2026 Interview: 9 TEMPLES TO HEAVEN Director Sompot Chidgasornpongse on His Debut Feature and Thai Independent Cinema
Independent Thai cinema has been rising on the international festival circuit in recent years. Following the success of A Useful Ghost in 2025, Thai independent filmmaker and longtime collaborator of Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Sompot Chidgasornpongse, premiered his feature debut, 9...
Echoes: JAVED IQBAL, The Netflix-Worthy Film Pakistan Already Had
A recent conversation in Pakistan has stirred concerns over Pakistani content being valuable enough to be allowed to stream on Netflix. Some local stars debated among themselves that Pakistani content is not ready to meet the standards of global streaming...
Watch Exclusive DEMON HUNTERS Clips Before Action / Horror / Comedy / Romance Hits VOD
JC Lin and Arjan Bajwa star in director Mei-Juin Che's action / horror / comedy / romance hit from Taiwan and India, heading to VOD on August 7.
