“With his low-key dramedy, one will laugh, one will tear up, but above all, one will come to understand that matters of romance always require a leap of faith.”
Category: Fantasia Festival
Kakegurui (2019) review [Fantasia 2020]
“A narrative that will not only please long-time fans of the series, but also convert many newcomers into kakegurui’s enthusiasts.”
Wotakoi: love is hard for Otaku (2020) review [Fantasia 2020]
Fukada offers plenty of comical moments, a myriad of pleasing musical sequences, and endearing romantic segments but fails to deliver the emotional powerful moment the narrative needed.
Hentai Kamen: Abnormal Crisis (2016) review [Fantasia 2020]
“Despite offering plenty of fun moments and tons of silliness, the sequel fails to truly surprise and explore the thematic riddle of the structural role perversion plays in human subjectivity in a truly meaningful way.”
Milocrorze: A Love Story (2011) review [Fantasia 2020]
“What makes Milocrorze: A Love Story truly wonderful is that Ishibashi, beyond offering a highly absurd narrative and rich visual ride, also delivers an exquisite commentary on the imaginary dimension in subjective functioning.”
Project Dreams – How to Build Mazinger Z’s Hangar (2020) review [Fantasia 2020]
“A more daring approach could have made ‘Project Dreams’ into an even more powerful celebration of technology and the inspiring power of anime.”
Woman of the Photographs (2020) review [Fantasia 2020]
“A powerful reminder that what truly counts is not the relation to the imagined Other, an Other who might or not desire the subject, but a relation to another subject.”
Crazy Samurai Musashi (2020) review [Fantasia 2020]
“Sakaguchi reveals that what truly stirs the imagination of the spectator is not shining special effects, but true skill and physicality of the actor’s presence.”
Fantasia Film Festival: 8 Japanese film recommendations
“While there are many Japanese films to discover at the festival – even for us, we can already provide eight recommendations for this year’s festival.”
The Island of Cats (2019) review [Fantasia Film Festival]
“Probably this year’s best cat narrative.”
Dance With Me (2019) Review [Fantasia Film fest]
“One of the most pleasing musical experiences of recent years and one fine encouragement to people to find and do what they love.3
Hard-Core (2018) Review [Fantasia Film Fest]
“(The narrative) reveals, in a painful way, that something that works well in manga does not always translates in an equal pleasant fashion on the silver screen.”
Day And Night (2019) review [Fantasia Film Festival]
Introduction As Michihito Fujii is young and his oeuvre somewhat limited, it might come as a surprise that he was already given the opportunity to direct two somewhat larger projects, like The Journalist (2019) and Day and Night (2019), in one and the same year. While this might point to a trust in his talent,…
Kingdom (2019) review [Fantasia Film Festival]
“A solid groundwork for future installments.”
Birthday Wonderland (2019) Review [Fantasia Film Festival]
“A funny and very enjoyable visual experience, for adults as well as for children.”
