Japan

A STORY FROM CHIKAMATSU: Love and Punishment
A STORY FROM CHIKAMATSU: Love & Punishment

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.

"It's About Saving Human Relationships" - An Interview With A WHALE OF A TALE Director, Megumi Sasaki
“It’s About Saving Human Relationships” – An Interview With A WHALE OF A TALE Director, Megumi Sasaki

We were able to talk what Megumi Sasaki, director of the upcoming documentary about whaling called A Whale of a Tale.

MADE IN JAPAN: A Hit in America (Again)?
MADE IN JAPAN: A Hit in America (Again)?

You don’t have to be Japanese or a country and western music aficionado to cheer on Tomiko Fujiyama, the subject of documentary Made in Japan.

LIZ AND THE BLUE BIRD: Intimacy in Style and Song
LIZ AND THE BLUE BIRD: Intimacy In Style & Song

Liz and the Blue Bird is an indepth and stylistic chracter study that explores the details and hidden emotional gravity of seemingly unremarkable situations.

FIREWORKS: Nice Animation Can’t Save A Familiar Story
FIREWORKS: Nice Animation Can’t Save A Familiar Story

Fireworks is both stunningly animated, and stunningly disappointing, hampered by a predictable love story that is neither compelling or insightful.

Anarchic Cinema: V-Cinema & Takashi Miike
Anarchic Cinema: V-Cinema & Takashi Miike

In our latest entry of Anarchic Cinema, we discuss the birth of Japanese V-Cinema and the contributions of Takashi Miike.

BOYS FOR SALE: Tokyo's Underworld
BOYS FOR SALE: Tokyo’s Underworld

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: Sugary Sweet, A Little Messy & Oh So Strange
LU OVER THE WALL: Sugary Sweet, A Little Messy & Oh So Strange

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.

95 AND 6 TO GO: A Personal Documentation Of Transgenerational Memory
95 AND 6 TO GO: A Personal Documentation Of Transgenerational Memory

95 And 6 To Go follows the Takesues in a one-of-a-kind document; exploring the family’s innately meaningful transgenerational memories.

MARY AND THE WITCH'S FLOWER: The Magic of Ghibli lives on in the first Studio Ponoc feature
MARY AND THE WITCH’S FLOWER: The Magic Of Ghibli Lives On In The First Studio Ponoc Feature

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.

The Stature and Vision of Isao Takahata, 1935-2018
The Stature and Vision of Isao Takahata, 1935-2018

In this retrospective guide, we examine the work of recently deceased filmmaker Isao Takahata, one of the pioneers of Studio Ghibli.

THE THIRD MURDER: A Complex puzzle of a legal thriller
THE THIRD MURDER: A Complex Puzzle Of A Legal Thriller

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.

AFTER THE STORM: Tokyo At Its Most Personal
AFTER THE STORM: Tokyo At Its Most Personal

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!: A Thoughtful And Clever Escape
OH LUCY!: A Thoughtful & Clever Escape

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: A Sketch of Sadness
IN THIS CORNER OF THE WORLD: A Sketch Of Sadness

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.