Tag: japan
Tokyo 2025 Interview: THE CHATTERBOXES Director Ken Kawai Discusses Crafting Humor From Language Barriers
A rising CODA director discusses his charming dramedy of communication errors.
Golden Horse 2025 Interview: DEAR STRANGER Director Tetsuya Mariko Talks Transnational Filmmaking, New York, and Puppet Theater
The director of Toei's first English-language feature talks puppets, New York, and transnational dialogues.
THE RED SPECTACLES Review: Mamoru Oshii's Absurdist Take on Authoritarianism Gets a Second Life
Memory hardens around those who experience violence, turning guilt or pain into an armor they must carry long after the wounds close. That burden is the doorway into Mamoru Oshii's The Red Spectacles, a film where guilt materializes as a...
CHAINSAW MAN - THE MOVIE: REZE ARC Review: Beautifully Animated, Slightly Repetitive Blast
A note at the start that Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc (just "Reze Arc" going forward because wow, what a title) is entirely accessible to the curious who have not seen the show. Some ongoing threads are touched...
Beyond Fest 2025 Interview: Meiko Kaji Talks Scorpion, Snowblood, Stray Cat Rock, and the Refreshing Nature of Wearing a Costume, As Her Career Turns 60
The Japanese genre film legend speaks with Screen Anarchy for the first time ever.
Fantasia 2025 Interview: KAKUKAKU SHIKAJIKA, Akiko Higashimura and Mei Nagano Talk Bringing a Mangaka's Autobiographical Work To Screen
A beloved manga artist and her on-screen counterpart discuss the live-action adaptation.
Busan 2025 Review: TIGER Charts the Challenges of a Queer Male Sex Worker in a Deeply Divided Japan
Inspired by real stories from Tokyo’s LGBTQ+ community, Anshul Chauhan’s Tiger follows a young man as he navigates the Japanese capital’s underground queer scene, while also struggling to reconcile his chosen lifestyle with the one he left behind. Tiger had...
MY SUNSHINE Interview: Director Hiroshi Okuyama Talks Isolated Protagonists, Sensitive Gazes, Difficulty in Shooting an Ice Rink
The filmmaker behind a sensitive and special drama explains the considerations he made to achieve those qualities.
Busan 2025 Interview: ALL GREENS Director Takashi Koyama Talks the High-School Drug-Dealing Dramedy You Didn't Know You Needed
A lively conversation with the mind behind a daring dramedy at this year's BIFF.
Friday One Sheet: DEAR STRANGER
Simple line art, or is there more? The key art for Tetsuya Mariko's New York City-set drama, Dear Stranger, has a few interesting textural things going on beyond its doodle-in-the-margin first glance. First is the subtle texture, like a badly...
KOKUHO Interview: Lee Sang-il and Satoko Okudera Discuss Japan's #2 Highest-Grossing Live-Action Film of All Time
Our exclusive interview with the minds behind Japan's box office smash-hit
Friday One Sheet: MY SUNSHINE
I am feeling whimsical in the back half of summer, and this simple design for Hiroshi Okuyama's nostalgic love story, My Sunshine, is doing the trick. Normally the Koreans excel at this kind of design, where there is little fuss...
CLOUD Interview: Kiyoshi Kurosawa Talks Bresson, Open Endings, and the Ambiguity in Remaking
The legendary Japanese director talks cinephilia, America, and ambiguities.
HOT SPRING SHARK ATTACK Interview: Director Morihito Inoue Talks Jaws, Bureaucracy, and Omnipotent Screen Sharks
We discuss a killer shark satire that's fun to soak in,
BRAND NEW LANDSCAPE Exclusive: Poster for Japanese Directors' Fortnight Premiere
Exclusive poster debut for one of Directors' Fortnight 2025's most intriguing offerings.
Udine 2025 Interview: Hideo Jojo Talks Centering Women in Pink Cinema and Beyond
A pink film director explains his turn to big screen filmmaking with 'Welcome to the Village' and 'A Bad Summer'.
Udine 2025 Interview: DOLLHOUSE Director Shinobu Yaguchi Talks Disturbing Dolls, Uncomfortable Allusions, and Swinging For The Fences
One of Japan's best comedy directors takes a sharp turn towards horror in this supernatural smorgasbord.
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...
