Conflagration (1958) review

A narrative that serenely depicts the possible outcome of a subject’s failure to find, in a post-war landscape, someone to carry the Name-Of-The-Father.

Wandering (2022) review

With his poetic sensitivity, Sang-il Lee delivers a rich tapestry of genuine emotionality and a powerful affirmation of the fact that the affirmation of the subject lies beyond the field of understanding.

The Island Closest To Heaven (1984) review

“This might be the purest idol-film Obayashi made and the clearest example of how Kadokawa wanted to exploit the audio-visual medium.”

Skeleton Flowers (2021) review

A serene narrative that touchingly explores the possibility of reaching each other as subject despite the misrecognition that structures speech.  

A Liar And a Broken Girl (2010) review

“Seta’s first narrative hits some false notes, but these cannot derail Seta’s first-feature film nor radically complicate the spectator’s pleasure.”

The Promised Land (2019) review [Nippon Connection 2021]

A beautifully composed and highly relevant narrative about destructive kinds of social violence, a social violence against the Otherness present in the community and an ostracizing violence to turn the once-trusted other into an unwanted Otherness.