Japan
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Japanese studio Nikkatsu’s successful run of “roman porno” reboots stumbles with its fourth offering, a leery and unimaginative tale of infatuation and jealousy. Read my review Read More
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Based on the manga by Yoshitoki Oima, A Silent Voice – also translated onscreen as The Shape of Voice – depicts two lonely souls who struggle to connect with their… Read More
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Seldom one to be praised for his positive representations of women onscreen (remember Virgin Psychics ?), Japanese filmmaker Sion Sono takes encouraging strides towards a more feminist outlook in Antiporno,… Read More
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One of the most enduring themes in Japanese cinema is the clash between old and new, the struggle of older generations to relate to their successors and preserve traditional aspects… Read More
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Directed by Isao Yukisada (best known for the 2004 teen-romance tearjerker Crying Out Love, in the Centre of the World), this second title of Nikkatsu studio’s new wave of rebooted… Read More
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In the mid-1970s, Japan’s oldest studio, Nikkatsu, looked to combat dwindling box office returns with a series of softcore “Roman Pornos” (meaning “romantic pornography”) Read my review Read More
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Almost as ubiquitous as stories about provincial country life, or tales of strained relationships between parents and their children, Japanese cinema is awash with the misadventures of struggling young musicians.… Read More
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Following her impressive comeback in 2014’s Pale Moon , once-controversial actress Rie Miyazawa gives a heart-wrenching performance in Her Love Boils Bathwater as a terminally ill matriarch determined to reconcile… Read More
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Bursting with anarchic energy and awash with lurid colours, The Mole Song: Hong Kong Capriccio surpasses its 2013 predecessor in sheer entertainment value as a consistently ridiculous crime caper. Read… Read More
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Body swapping, time displacement and comets of mass destruction all feature prominently in Makoto Shinkai’s heart-wrenching adolescent romance. Read my review Read More
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King Kong vs Godzilla. Freddy vs Jason. Cinema loves staging high-stakes bouts between its most iconic characters for our entertainment. Read my review Read More
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Japanese action star Tak Sakiguchi makes a welcome return to the screen in this stripped-down action thriller that sees a deadly super soldier forced out of seclusion and back to… Read More
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Foodies may struggle to control themselves during Naotaro Endo’s documentary about the famed Tokyo fish market, as the film is packed throughout with drooling close-ups of glistening sushi grade seafood.… Read More
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A darkly comic satire of Japanese political bureaucracy, Toho’s 29th entry in the Godzilla franchise may prove too talky for some, but still manages to pay loving homage to the… Read More
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After learning he has only one day to live, a young man enters into a Faustian pact, bartering his most treasured possessions for more time on earth. Read my review Read More
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For what was only ever a one-joke premise, Yuichi Fukada gets a surprising amount of mileage from the crime-fighting antics of teenager Kyosuke (Ryohei Suzuki), who draws his superpowers from… Read More
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Thirty-five years after teen idol Hiroko Yakushimaru upended the yakuza genre by spraying a room full of bullets with a shrill cry of “Kaikan!”, schoolgirl mob boss Izumi makes her… Read More
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Veteran director Yoji Yamada returns with his first comedy in more than two decades, as a suburban middle-class family is thrown into disarray when the grandparents announce they are getting… Read More
