In anticipation of its induction into the Criterion Collection, we look back on A Story From Chikamatsu, a film with with a sharp focus on the social phenomenons of 18th century Japan.
Liz and the Blue Bird is an indepth and stylistic chracter study that explores the details and hidden emotional gravity of seemingly unremarkable situations.
Boys For Sale dives into the world of the urisen (also known as “boys”) that are paid to have sex with other men. Brought in by the allure of a high paying part-time job, urisens have to learn to navigate the industry as they go.
Lu Over the Wall combines a basic coming-of-age story with folkloric legend to concoct a tale of self-discovery that is incredibly messy, but also very beautiful.
Mary and the Witch’s Flower feels truly timeless, an animated classic in waiting that will delight audiences both young and old. Hiromasa Yonebayashi has captured the very essence of Studio Ghibli for this first Studio Ponoc effort.
Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest film The Third Murder is a complex, rewarding legal thriller that is a notable departure from his usual humanist approach to character studies.
Koreeda Hirokazu’s intimate family drama After the Storm captures a side of Tokyo rarely seen in cinema, as well as beautifully depicting a turbulent familial relationship with glimmering hope.
Oh Lucy! is an inventive and poignant story that’s remarkably relatable, touching on loneliness and the sometimes outrageous lengths one will go to to escape the world and discover one’s own happiness.
In This Corner of the World is a beautifully captured and quietly tragic animation, which succeeds due to how it captures the sadness underneath the mundanity of life in a war-torn country.