Yu Irie delivers a samurai narrative that, while not able to match the masterpieces of the genre, offers everything fans have come to expect from the genre.
Category: drama
A Love Letter From Yesterday (2024) review
The emotional drama is extremely flat – and even the sexual encounters, despite being well-acted by the female cast, cannot infuse life into the dried-up bed of the film’s emotional river.
Blazing Fists (2025) review
Miike delivers a drama of hope, a narrative that shows, in a satisfying manner, that a subject can materialize himelf within in the ring and by punching and kicking the demeaning discourses concerning criminality within the Japanese Other into shreds.
Rainy Blue (2025) review [OAFF 2025]
Asuna Yanagi does not simply deliver a heartwarming coming-of-age narrative, but also a work that has the potential to inspire young people.
Dollhouse (2025) review
Yaguchi’s horror will please audiences new to the J-horror genre as well as long-time fans of the genre.
Bullet Train Explosion (2025) review
A competent sequel that will please audiences and invites spectators to explore Sato’s classic.
Lumberjack the Monster (2023) review
A great example of a filmic experience that is helmed by a director that is uninvested in the material and, consequently, merely does his bare minimum
The Godzilla Project: Godzilla Minus One (2023) review
A triumphant return of the most beloved Kaiju of all and a deeply emotional experience that re-assessing the themes of the original Godzilla in a refreshing way.
Exit 8 (2025) review
Genki Kawamura delivers an engaging and visually arresting psychological horror narrative that takes the concept of liminality to its anthropological origin.
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.
A Girl named Ann (2024) review
One of most upsetting confrontations with the way the societal and familial Other can fail the subject.
Cloud (2024) review
Kurosawa delivers a biting critique of way capitalism and consumerism has transformed our subjectivity and the way we interact with others.
Renoir (2025) review
Chie Hayakawa delivers an incredible moving experience that succeeds in exploring the difficulty for the subject to deal with death and the loss it introduces.
HappyEnd (2024) review
An incredible tour-de-force that hits home.
psychocinema 