Makoto Nagahisa leverages the evocative power of visuals and sounds to plunge the spectator into a subjective experience of subjects who only appear as silenced within the media, with the expulsed human ‘trash’ produced by the contemporary societal Other.
Category: Festivals
Ranshima Bound (2024) review [Camera Japan Festival]
Yoshitaka Kamada exploits this ‘realization’ to underline the importance of loosening one fixation with the Other and his ideals and sewing together an ideal ego that is worth chasing until death’s door is reached.
Unchained (2026) review [Camera Japan Festival 2026]
With his latest narrative, Keisuke Yoshida (Blue (2021)) turns a cinematic glance at juvenile delinquency. Yet, what urged him to tackle this societal symptom was not simply an interest, but the need to question the societal environment he grew up in and offer this result of elaboration to the audience. While Keisuke Yoshida saw…
Gosh!! (2025) review [Camera Japan Festival 2026]
Odagiri Jo offers a healthy dose of comical absurdity, a dose that the contemporary subject regularly needs.
Street Kingdom (2026) review [Camera Japan Festival 2026]
“Punk cinema for those who never knew they needed the spirit that fuelled it.”
Camera Japan Festival 2026: Our recommendations
Do you not yet know which Japanese film to give a chance at the Camera Japan Festival? Let us guide you.
When You Open The Door (2026) review [Fantasia Film Festival]
A rare treat that blends fairytales, gothic imagery, and folk religious practices into a compelling and visually arresting exploration of forced self-discovery.
The Specials (2026) review [Fantasia 2026]
Uchida’s film will not win any awards, yet the film delivers what it promises and successfully pleases the spectator with its heartwarming message
Gozu (2003) review/analysis [Fantasia 2026]
Takashi Miike delivers a cinematographic gift, a surreal masterpiece that stays with the spectator long after the credits have faded.
Break Free (2026) review [Fantasia 2026]
A pleasant Rocky-like dance-narrative, yet Nakamoto struggles to develop his promising concept into an emotionally satisfying experience.
You Are The Film (2026) review [Fantasia 2026]
Makoto Ueda proves that cinema is alive and kicking.
Fiamma (2025) review [Nippon Connection 2026]
With brutal elegance, Uchida develops the idea that physical reality cannot be equated with subjective truth.
Night Flower (2025) review [Nippon Connection 2026]
Eiji Uchida delivers a highly moving drama of motherhood.
SAI: Disaster (2025) review [Nippon Connection 2026]
Yutaro Seki and Kentaro Hirase deliver an experience that, in our view, has everything to become a cult-phenomenon, so do not sleep on it.
Fantasia International Film Fest: Japanese Films not to miss.
Find out our recommendations of this year’s Fantasia Film Festival.