An exquisitely layered psychological drama that unveils how a subject’s fixation on a phantasmatic image disrupts his ability to commit himself romantically to the female other
Category: Based on Novel
Do Unto Others (2023) review
While many spectators will shed tears at the emotional unfolding, our tears lament Maeda’s choice to go full melodrama.
Motherhood (2022)
An enjoyable and engaging exploration of the destructive impact of a subject’s fixation on gaining the (m)Other’s love and that the often-ignored truth that becoming a mother is not that self-evident.
Father of The Milky Way Railroad (2023) review [Japan Cuts 2023]
By being able to rely on such talent, Narushima is able to deliver a narrative that gracefully moves the spectator and elegantly provokes spectator’s emotions and tears.
As Long As We Both Shall Live (2023) review [Fantasia Fest 2023]
An over-the-top and highly powerful romance narrative.
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.
People Who Talk to Plushies Are Kind (2023) review [OAFF 2023]
Kaneko convincingly shows that the symptomatic usage of the plushie attempts to repair the tensive bond with the Other or subdue its overbearing presence.
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 Nighthawk’s first Love (2022) review [Female Gaze – Japan Society]
An understated and moving exploration of the impact the demand for the other’s love has on the subject’s ‘relational’ signifiers and acts and of the importance of one’s first love for one’s coming-into-being as subject.
The Last Ten Years (2022) review
“A touching and satisfying tear-jerking experience.”
The Midnight Maiden War (2022) review
“A visually exciting experience that shows that the only revolutionary thing that can give life its worth is desire that remains desire.”
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.”
Last Of The Wolves (2021) review
“Kazuya Shiraishi delivers, with his sequel, another amazing and highly entertaining yakuza/police thriller.”
psychocinema 