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.
Category: Directors
Cloud (2024) review
Kurosawa delivers a biting critique of way capitalism and consumerism has transformed our subjectivity and the way we interact with others.
Evil Does not Exist (2023) review
Ryusuke Hamaguchi offers a highly meditative exploration of the position of violence within the natural Real and the human symbolic, the realm of speech.
Red Peony Gambler: Gambler’s Obligation (1969)
What invites us to qualify Suzuki’s narrative as a classic is not simply his continuation of Yamashita’s visual adoration of Junko Fuji, but his effective transformation of the Ninkyo thread into an exploration of the transgressive nature of desire as such.
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.
Short Movie Review: Chime (2024) review
With his horror-short. Kiyoshi Kurosawa proves that he still is a master of horror.
Revolver Lily (2023) review
A very enjoyable action-thriller that succeeds in satisfying the spectator thirsting for exciting action-pieces.
There Was A Father (1942) review
A quintessential Ozu narrative that, despite its age, still succeeds in engaging the spectator.
Kingdom: Return of the Great General (2024) review
Shinsuke Sato knows what makes people come back to the series and delivers it in spades.
Rewrite (2025) review [Fantasia Film Festival]
Daiga Matsui’s narrative ultimately develops into something that expands beyond mere romance, a surprising and highly satisfying time-loop drama.
Escape (2025) review [Nippon Connection 2025]
Adachi crafted a beautiful and affectionate piece on the troubled subjectivity of a subject who choose to escape, erasing his name from the societal field, to avoid capture.
Abashiri Prison – Saga of Homesickness (1965)
An engaging narrative that illustrates how the image of the father can be a prison for the subject.
Another Abashiri Prison Story (1965)
An enjoyable thriller – a straight-forward yakuza flick with many pleasant moments, but not the sequel the first narrative deserved.
Abashiri Prison (1965) review
Teruo Ishii delivers an interesting exploration of the frailty of the social bond between criminals as well as the trauma that, in some cases, animates the criminal reflex.
The Box Man (2024) review [Camera Japan Festival]
An incredible satisfying cinematic experience, one that enthrals the spectator from start to finish
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