A pleasant Rocky-like dance-narrative, yet Nakamoto struggles to develop his promising concept into an emotionally satisfying experience.
You Are The Film (2026) review [Fantasia Film Festival]
Makoto Ueda proves that cinema is alive and kicking.
Fiamma (2025) review [Nippon Connection 2026]
With brutal elegance, Uchida develops the idea that physical reality cannot be equated with subjective truth.
Night Flower (2025) review [Nippon Connection 2026]
Eiji Uchida delivers a highly moving drama of motherhood.
SAI: Disaster (2025) review [Nippon Connection 2026]
Yutaro Seki and Kentaro Hirase deliver an experience that, in our view, has everything to become a cult-phenomenon, so do not sleep on it.
Fantasia International Film Fest: Japanese Films not to miss.
Find out our recommendations of this year’s Fantasia Film Festival.
Ando (2025) review [Nippon Connection 2026]
Arai might be the fresh blood that the thriller genre thirsts for in Japan. However, only time will tell.
Tokyo Taxi (2025) review [Nippon Connection 2026]
Yoji Yamada delivers an incredibly touching experience – possibly his swangsong – for cinephiles to savour.
Moon In The Ordinary (2025) review [Nippon Connection 2026]
Spectators who haven’t had similar life-experiences might struggle to emotionally invest into the characters and the narrative.
At the Lovehotel (2026) review [Nippon Connection 2026]
Santa Ikegami delivers a self-assured debut that does not easily give away its thematical message.
All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001) review-analysis
A modern classic, one of the best, if not the best, cinematic experiences of the ‘00.
A Unique Country In Asia (2025) review [Nippon Connection 2026]
A film that fully embraces the political dimension pink film once was known for.
Fujiko (2026) review [Nippon Connection 2026]
An incredibly satisfying feel-good experience about personal freedom, about holding on to one’s desire within a societal field that seeks to suffocate it.
Mag Mag (2025) review [Nippon Connection 2026]
Yuriyan Retriever delivers a satisfying film of subjective growth, yet not without a highly ironic aftertaste.
Long Night (2025) review [Nippon Connection 2026]
A self-assured debut, wielding the filmic frame to stage the alienation of the contemporary subject, the failure of imaginary fictions, and the disruptive effect of avoiding Otherness,