Refreshing in its portrayal of the good and evil of Japan’s part in WWII, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s mystery has some decent twists and turns amidst the melodrama.
Continue readingWife of a Spy (2020)
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Come Back Anytime (また いらっしゃい) (2021)
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You will leave this exquisite documentary about Tokyo ramen master Masamoto Ueda with a full heart and a hankering for chashu ramen.
Continue readingThe Truth (La Vérité) (2019)
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Image via http://www.indiewire.com
Hirokazu Kore-Eda has crafted a deceptively complex story within a film that feels as airy as a soufflé. Continue reading
We Are Little Zombies (Wî â Ritoru Zonbîzu) (2019)
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Image via miff.com.au
Told in a Wes Anderson-esque tableau style, Makoto Nagahisa’s We Are Little Zombies is a visual onslaught that frames childhood grief as a computer game, with avatars, quests, save points and perhaps even a chance of a game reset. Continue reading
His Lost Name (Yoake) (2018)
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This understated and enigmatic drama by Nanako Hirose is surprisingly meditative and captivating, although occasionally frustrating and ultimately unsatisfying. Continue reading
Our House (Watashitachi no ie) (2017)
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Director Yui Kiyohara’s debut feature, Our House, has a quite restraint that adds a lyrical quality to its abstruse narrative. Continue reading
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda (2017)
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My film before this one, Ukrainian Donbass, was an unrelenting, grubby onslaught of caricature, corruption and violence. Following it with 100 minutes with Ryuichi Sakamoto was like a balm for the heart and soul. Continue reading
High Heels Revolution! (Hai Hîru kakumei!) (2016)
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Image via japanesefilmfestival.net
It was the topic that drew me to this documentary. Kaoru grew up in Japan, assigned a boy at birth but always feeling like a girl. As an adult, and now called Natsuki, she narrates her early life at school and the challenges of admitting, and being accepted for, who she really is. Interspersed with reenacted drama, this is an engaging story that teaches us about gender identity and expression in Japan, and leaves us pondering about gender roles in relationships. Continue reading
Ancien and the Magic Tablet
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Image via japanesefilmfestival.net
It was a feelgood Sunday for me at the Japanese Film Festival with two charmers – My Uncle and this animation that also showed at MIFF this year. Aimed at kids, it is a two-layered story about Kokone (voiced by Mitsuki Takahata), whose father Momo (Yôsuke Eguchi) repairs cars, and Princess Ancien, whose magic tablet allows her to give life to objects in the beleaguered kingdom of Heartland. Continue reading
My Uncle (Boku no ojisan) (2016)
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Image via japanesefilmfestival.net
I was completely charmed by this family comedy at the Japanese Film Festival. Yukio (Riku Ohnishi) must write an essay for a school contest about an adult in his family. His parents are too unexceptional so he chooses his infantile loafer of an uncle (Ryûhei Matsuda). Continue reading
