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.
Category: Comedy
Ghost Killer (2025) review [Japannual 2025]
Sonomura’s narrative does little to re-invent the genre, but delivers everything one’s desires in such narratives in spades – a crowd-pleaser, indeed.
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.
The Man Who Failed To Die (2025) review [Camera Japan Festival]
Seiji Tanaka refuses to colour within the lines of comedy, creating an eclectic collage of different genre-elements that does not fail to satisfy the spectator.
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.
Anime Supremacy (2022)
A light-hearted glance at the inner-workings of the anime-machine.
I Fell in Love With a Z-Grade Director in Brooklyn (2025) review [Fantasia Film Festival]
One of the most pleasant surprises of this year.
Honeko Akabane’s Bodyguards (2024) review [Fantasia Film Festival]
Ishikawa delivers an engaging narrative with some satisfying twists, many funny moments, and pleasing action-sequences.
Ya Boy Kongming! The movie (2025) review [Fantasia Film Festival 2025]
Shibue’s film can be enjoyed by anyone, yet only those who have watched the drama-series can fully appreciate the narrtaive’s resolution.
Kaiju Guy (2025) review [Nippon Connection 2025]
A narrative that engages the spectator from start to finish, but offers him one of the funniest yet heartfelt celebrations of Tokusatsu filmmaking.
Godzilla’s Revenge – All Monsters Attack (1969) review [The Godzilla Project]
Sekizawa’s narrative confronts the spectator light-heartedly with the endpoint of Godzilla’s social decontextualizing.
Yoyogi Johnny (2025) review [OAFF 2025]
Kimura’s choice to give the tragical dimension of love a deadpan comical twist pays off, creating a unique narrative that will resonate with youth and those who have kept in touch with their younger self
Good Luck (2025) review [OAFF 2025]
Shin Adachi utilizes the dynamic of the encounter to examine the problem of desiring within the societal field and the way desire give rise to misunderstanding between subjects.
Hana Dama Phantom (2016) review
While all clashing fragments of eroticism, horror, and comedy come sort of together in the twisted finale, it is not enough to wash away the sourness left by the ill-fitting theatrical performances.
The Taste of Tea (2004) review
Katsuhito Ishii’s offers the spectator a satisfying kaleidoscopic exploration of the emotional fabric of life and the importance of familial bonds.