Tag: japan
Berlinale 2025 Interview: THE LONGING Director Toshizo Fujiwara Talks Social Realism, Mentorship, and Learning From Each Other
Toshizo Fujiwara is leaning forward in his Zoom window as I speak, listening intently and smiling in recognition. We’re discussing the warmth that he demonstrates towards people in his filmmaking, and the more that he shares, the more the rhythms...
Rotterdam 2025 Interview: YASUKO, SONGS OF DAYS PAST Director Negishi Kichitaro Talks Taisho Entanglements, Roman Porno, Creating Chemistry
A legendary director of Roman Porno and period dramas discusses his IFFR-premiering return to the director's chair.
Friday One Sheet: A Japanese Four Poster Tribute to David Lynch
I will not say too much in this column on the passing of cinematic master and icon, David Lynch, as there will be more on the subject to follow in the coming days. Few filmmakers left a more lasting impression...
GHOST CAT ANZU Review: Jaws Will Drop
To the sounds of cicadas during a Tokyo summer, 11-year-old Karin and her father Tetsuya leave the city by train to visit a countryside temple where the caretaker is the grandfather she has never met. It is a grand old...
Anime Summer 2024: QUALITY ASSURANCE IN ANOTHER WORLD, Check and Check Again, No Matter What
Sympathy for QA people -- finally! The adventure series is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Anime Summer 2024: BYE BYE, EARTH, A Girl and Her Sword
The fantasy adventure series is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Fantasia 2024 Review: TATSUMI, A Gritty Yakuza Street Drama With A Broken Heart
I am happy that these kinds of gritty, but emotionally tragic crime films are still being made. Hiroshi Shôji’s Tatsumi is one of those skuzzy neighborhood dramas, the kind soaked in poverty, spit, blood, and tears. Where the crime feels...
Friday One Sheet: TATSUMI
I remain ever a fan of taking a compelling still frame form the film itself, and composing it into key art. Below is the poster for Yakuza drama, Tatsumi, in which leads Yûya Endô and Kokoro Morita offer each other...
Friday One Sheet: GODZILLA MINUS ONE (Minus Color)
Somehow in this column, I never managed to get to any of the lovely key art designs Godzilla Minus One. Let us fix that, shall we? The Japanese soft reboot cum retro prequel to the 1954 original Kaiju classic has been...
THE BOY AND THE HERON Review: Culmination of a Life's Work
Hayao Miyazaki's new film.
Toronto 2023 Review: THE BOY AND THE HERON, Sumptuous Miyazaki-San, Studio Ghibli Career Retrospective
From the opening air raid sirens and fiery infernos of World War II Tokyo bombings to the bucolic countryside house and its magical surroundings, Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli has come full circle in its 40 year history animated mastery....
Call Me Maybe: Hideo Nakata's RINGU Turns 25
A curse that infects people like a virus; a ghostly girl apparition with long hair — we owe these iconic J-horror images, and many other elements that are now the scary starter kit, to the creators of Ring (orig. Ringu). This year...
Cannes 2023 Review: KUBI, Masterclass in Absurdist History
Takeshi Kitano's new film.
Cannes 2023 Review: PERFECT DAYS, Magic Moments
Wim Wenders' new film.
DROPS OF GOD Review: Like Fine Wine, Gets Better As It Goes
Fleur Geffrier and Yamashita Tomohisa star in the swirling dramatic series, created by Quoc Dang Tran, now streaming on Apple TV+.
Cannes 2023 Review: MONSTER, Complex Chronology, Brave Message
Kore-eda Hirokazu directed a impactful drama with genre trappings.
DIM SUM: A LITTLE BIT OF HEART, Kurosawa's 4K DREAMS: Criterion in August 2023
Let's start with a little dim sum before night falls and dreams begin. In August 2023, The Criterion Collection will release Wayne Wang's Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart on Blu-ray and Akira Kurosawa's Dreams in 4K, which makes...
BRANDED TO KILL 4K Review: Exciting and Funny
Suzuki Seijun's 1967 masterpiece, starring Shishido Joe, got him fired from Nikkatsu. Now available from The Criterion Collection.
SUZUME Review: A Door, A Talking Cat, A Running Chair, and You
Directed by Makoto Shinkai, the animated adventure from Japan follows a young girl on a quest to save the world.
Berlinale 2023 Review: #MANHOLE, From Claustrophobic Horror to Social Satire
Nakajima Yuto stars in director Kazuyoshi Kumakiri's genre-bending psychological thriller.
