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.
Category: Friendship
Ghost Killer (2025) review [Japannual 2025]
Sonomura’s narrative does little to re-invent the genre, but delivers everything one’s desires in such narratives in spades – a crowd-pleaser, indeed.
The Man Who Failed To Die (2025) review [Camera Japan Festival]
Seiji Tanaka refuses to colour within the lines of comedy, creating an eclectic collage of different genre-elements that does not fail to satisfy the spectator.
Honeko Akabane’s Bodyguards (2024) review [Fantasia Film Festival]
Ishikawa delivers an engaging narrative with some satisfying twists, many funny moments, and pleasing action-sequences.
Twilight Cinema Blues (2023) review
While fun to watch, Hideo Jojo’s film is a trick of all trades, but a master of none.
Let’s Go Karaoke (2024) review [Camera Japan Festival]
This is perfect film for anyone who, after a long day full of struggles, wants to sit in a comfy chair and relax.
Baby Assassins: Good Days (2024) review [Fantasia Film Festival]
Yugo Sakamoto successfully mixes up the formula that structured his previous two action narratives. Highly Recommended.
Kingdom 2: Far and Away (2022) review
An epic and quite emotional experience that sadly fails to reach it full potential by holding on too tight to its shonen-roots.
Natchan’s little Secret (2023) review [Camera Japan Festival 2023]
Tanaka’s narrative succeeds in entertaining the spectator with its light-hearted framing of the tension between these subjects and the Other they are surrounded by. So be sure to give it a watch if you have the chance.
Usogui (2022) review
‘Usogui’ got 99 problems, but the manga-like appearances of the characters ain’t one.
Short Movie Time: My Wings Became My Legs (2022) review [JFHH 2023]
A pleasant comical short that highlights that the idea of adulthood is a suffocating but unattainable ideal.
Baby Assassins: 2 babies (2023) review [Nippon Connection 2023]
Sakamoto’s latest film has such a irresistible charm that even those who normally shy away of action or comedy narratives will leave satisfied.
Setagaya Game (2023) review
The Ohara Bros do not only offer the spectator a pleasant concatenation of kicks and punches, but also deliver a touching emotional pay-off.
Eternally Younger Than Those Idiots (2021) review [Camera Japan Festival]
A narrative that, due to its elegant engendering of genuine emotions, offers a touching exploration of the subjective obstacles that complicate the subject’s coming-into-being and his inter-personal functioning.
In The Distance (2022) review [Japannual 2022]
“A very pleasant slice-of-life narrative that elegantly shows that bonds between subjects are that much more genuine if they are grounded in the acceptance of the other’s radical difference.”
psychocinema 