Bon Appétit! – Sexual Drive (IFFR 2021 Film Review)

Posted by David Cuevas - February 6, 2021

Munch, crunch, slurp. There’s a beauty to eating food. With every meal, there’s a tender texture behind every plate, every bowl, every serving. With every dish, there is always two primary intentions. The first is nutrition — to feed the client with enough energy to go on with their day. The second is pleasure. Nothing

The Wages of Romance – Aristocrats (IFFR 2021 Film Review)

Posted by David Cuevas - February 4, 2021

It’s New Years Eve and Hanako Haibara is in a romantic rut. Recently dumped by her boyfriend, Hanako’s leisurely mid-20’s life has taken a turn for the pursuit of a long-term partner. After years of anticipation, she has finally given in to the tradition of arranged marriage. In Yukiko Sode’s latest venture into the troublesome

Rise of the Rejects – Red Post on Escher Street (FNC 2020 Review)

Posted by David Cuevas - November 1, 2020

The latest feature from Japanese provocateur Sion Sono would seem like your standard meta-film drama in any other hands. But with Sono, anything goes. The wild rambunctious stylings of the acclaimed director has captured the hearts and minds of cult-film fanatics from around the globe. With Red Post on Escher Street, Sono proves once again

“Please Don’t Erase Me” – True Mothers (Toronto International Film Festival Review)

Posted by David Cuevas - September 29, 2020

A known prodigy of serene and sensual filmmaking, Naomi Kawase should in all honesty be considered as a modern master. It’s a shame that she hasn’t received the amount of admiration and general applause from western audiences, in comparison with her male counterparts Hirokazu Kore-eda and Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Kawase’s eclectic filmography is a visceral undertaking,

Drawn To Life – Tezuka’s Barbara (Fantasia 2020 Film Review)

Posted by David Cuevas - September 11, 2020

For any avid manga historians, the name Osamu Tezuka is already essentially a household name. The famed artist is best known for his work on Astro Boy, a series that has long been adapted into the Western hemisphere, and has since populated the international market. Considered the godfather of manga, his work ranges from different

Lacking Bite – Yakuza Apocalypse (DVD Review)

Posted by Grae Westgate - April 26, 2016

Japanese auteur Takeshi Miike is a rather eclectic figure in cinema. His filmography ranges across every genre, from esteemed horror films such as Audition, family friendly pics like Zebraman and The Great Yokai War to bizarre genre-redefining musical mash-up The Happiness of the Katakuris and hyper-violent yakuza fantasy Ichi The Killer. One of the most

High School Hell – The Case of Hana and Alice (Asia House Film Festival Review)

Posted by Grae Westgate - February 29, 2016

Animation is a thriving and well respected sub-industry in Japanese cinema. The relationship between anime and Japanese people is often somewhat alien to the rest of the world, and although the works of Miyazaki et al have garnered critical acclaim globally, audiences (save for Nihonophiles) generally remain somewhat tentative when it comes to the genre.

Go Nihon – The Top 5 Most Disturbing Japanese Horror Films You Should Never See

Posted by Grae Westgate - July 21, 2015

Japan has made something of a name for itself in the horror genre.  Over the last few decades, a steady stream of classic ghost stories from the East have been half-heartedly re-made into half as terrifying American facsimiles, diluting the sheer terror that their original Japanese counterparts have installed on audiences across the globe.  There

Good Things Come in Small Packages – The Tale of Princess Kaguya (DVD Review)

Posted by Grae Westgate - July 10, 2015

Over the last thirty years, Japan’s Studio Ghibli has introduced audiences to an intricate world of sublime animation and bizarre tales from the creative minds of some of Asia’s finest storytellers. The latest entry into the Ghibli oeuvre is a delightful adaptation of the 10th Century folk story The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, brought to glorious life