Category: Comedy

She Taught Me Serendipity (2024) review

Akiko Ohku steers away from delivering a clear-cut romantic fantasy to confront the spectator with the messy consequences of utilizing signifiers in the game of love in a very moving way.

Rental Family (2025)

Hikari re-affirms her talent for creating uplifting and touching filmic experiences.

Under Ninja (2025) review

Great mindless fun, perfect to wash away the stress that has infiltrated one’s body during the week.

Golden Kamuy (2024) review

Shigeaki Kubo reaffirms that he has the skill and talent to bring action-driven narratives to life in a satisfactorily way.

Undead lovers (2024) review

Matsui delivers a heartwarming romance narrative that, due to its fresh approach to certain tropes of the genre, rises above the common derivative romance drivel Japan usually produces.

Strangers in Kyoto (2025) review [Japannual 2025]

A light-hearted exploration of uncomfortable truths that marks our interactions with others/the Other – what we say is not what we mean; what we want to say we are not allowed to say; politeness is often a fabricated facade that we must believe in.

How Dare You? (2025) review [Camera Japan Festival]

With her narrative, Mipo O delivers one of the most convincing arguments to parents to create space for the subjectivity of their child and to take their signifiers – their pleasures, pressures, worries, fights, and frustrations – seriously.  

Truth or Lies (2025) review [OAFF 2025]

An incredibly satisfying film that does not merely show that subjects need the lie but also that it is, by virtue of fiction, that our signifiers have effects on the other.