Banno, despite re-emphasizing Godzilla as hero, exposes the deceit of the ‘nationalistic’ narrative structures by showing, with irony, that Godzilla’s passage does not result in societal change
Category: Youth
Sana: Let Me Hear (2024) review
Dramatic, thrilling, chilling, shockingly good.
Sana (2023) review
Takashi Shimizu cannot avoid his film from being held back from the fan-service it needs to deliver.
Thanc you (2021) review
A quintessential manzai-experience in a filmic envelope and a beautiful introduction to the emotional range relational comedy can have.
Awake (2020) review
Atsuhiro Yamada ensures, by delivering an effective visual and musical frame, that his poignant psychological portrait result into a thrilling finale and, ultimately, a heartwarming conclusion.
Re/Member: The Last Night (2025) review
A fun romp if one takes everything at face-value
Confetti (2023) review
A pleasant film that underlines, in an elegant and touching manner, the necessity for the subject to find an Other to commit himself to his dream, to his desire.
Short Movie Time: Fashion Runner (2018)
An absurd little gem that is worth checking out.
This Is I (2026) review
Matsumoto makes a very convincing case for the need for the societal field to become more willing to grant subjects the right to nominate themselves in accordance with their subjective position.
Message from Space (1978) review
Any spectator who perseveres, swallowing all the visual discordances and false notes, will eventually finds pleasure in the action and effect-rich finale.
She Taught Me Serendipity (2024) review
Akiko Ohku steers away from delivering a clear-cut romantic fantasy to confront the spectator with the messy consequences of utilizing signifiers in the game of love in a very moving way.
Super Happy Forever (2024) review
A compelling drama that traces out the effect of the unsaid on the subject and highlights the subjective need to have some sort of material proof to support a faded fantasy of harmonious union.
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.
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.
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.