“Hanabusa’s second outing proves to be as enjoyable and thrilling as the first.”
Category: Fantasia Festival
Georama Boy Panorama Girl (2020) review [Fantasia Film Festival]
‘Seta’s poetically composed narrative blows a fresh breeze into the ‘traditional’ Japanese romance genre.’
Dreams of Fire (2021) review [Fantasia Film festival]
“McKie’s film is not only the best dance-film of recent years but might very well be one of the best Japanese films to be released this year.”
Jigoku-no-hanazono ～Office Royale～ (2021) review [Fantasia Film Festival]
“An absurd and crazy cocktail full of violence and funny twists and unexpected turns.”
Tokyo Revengers (2021) Review [Fantasia Film Festival]
“An exciting blend of satisfying violence, tensive moments, surges of pleasing lightheartedness, and touching emotional moments.”
Follow The Light (2021) review [Fantasia Festival 2021]
The narrative might not offer anything new at a thematical level, but stands out due to his refusal to spell things out and, instead, imply certain subjective truths via elegant and naturalistic poetic moments.
Fuku-chan of Fukufuku Flats (2014) review [Fantasia 2020]
“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.”
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.”